


Heartbeats; Body and Soul

by Soikia



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: (sooner or later), Alternate Universe - College/University, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, none of these guys are together at the start of the fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2018-11-22 08:32:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 135,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11376474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soikia/pseuds/Soikia
Summary: Donghun, for lack of a better word, is very excited about leaving the university dorms and moving into the on campus apartments. That's the nice thing about going to a rich private school - they can pull off anything. He's a little sad that he'll only get to enjoy it one time since he's a senior, but that's alright. He's dreading the whole roommate aspect though, but he supposes that he can live with another person for a year if it means getting to live in an apartment.He's got plenty of other things to worry about. Like his two friends walking on the line of 'close friends' to 'obliviously pining'. Thank god he isn't in that kind of situation. Donghun has no interest in becoming a love-sick fool. Especially since he hasn't had a date since freshmen year. That's an accomplishment, no matter what Sehyoon says. It's not a bad thing. He's just focused on his school life and his career. Yeah.(Donghun gets a chance to live in a newly built apartment on campus in his last year. His roommate brings some....unexpected hurdles that Donghun wasn't necessarily ready to deal with.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first Dongjun chapter fic y'all;; sorry but wowson is going 2 be a side pair but I Might consider doing a spin-off fic in the future?? maybe??  
> ANYWAYS there's not enough content for them so I'm determined to help bring in some more content because???? They're so pure??
> 
> You wouldn't believe the amount of research I put into all of this whole fic. I've been looking at university lay-outs for the last two weeks. I've been working out what years all the guys would be in, I've made a mood board. Two mood boards, actually.
> 
> This chapter is more-so a warm-up that sets up all the characters (minus Junhee because any way I tried to work him in seemed weird but you can get some #foreshadowing in a part of the chapter I guess;; also Chan but he comes later in the fic anyway sooooo). The later chapters will probably be a bit longer ~ Any types are my own!

Donghun waves goodbye to his latest costumer as they exit with their little Maltese puppy happily squirming in their arms. He has to say that the number one benefit of working in a pet shop is seeing all the cute pets that people have. It’s extremely soothing for him to be able and pet a few dogs and cats whenever their owners haul them in. 

Plus he just gets to people watch in general. Which is fantastic for him because, well, there’s no better way to pass the time like watching someone in a store. He scrunches his face together. No, that sounds creepy. There’s no way to word it to make it sound non-creepy. Dammit.

He loves that this pet shop brings in shelter animals for adoption. He can snuggle and pet all the new arrivals to get them used to people interaction. It's a great perk that he sees little downside for. Except for the occasional nipping.

Another benefit is that it’s only a ten minute drive from his college campus. 

They’re out on summer break for another month; give or take a few weeks. However, Donghun had decided to stay on campus this time around specifically because he got this job. His mom had protested of course, claiming that she hadn't seen him since Christmas last year.

Which was true. He went home during his winter break - an exhausting six hour train ride from school. He had to sleep on the train overnight. It wasn't his first choice of travel, but it was affordable. 

But he didn't visit during spring break. Mainly because he was giving a few underclassmen vocal lessons and they were more than willing to pay more than his asking rate. So he didn't schedule a trip.

Then he got a job here and well...as much as he loves his family and misses them, he's sure they can hang on until he visits again for Christmas.

It's not that he dreads seeing them. There's just a severe hatred for the travel time. Plus, he just wants to save up so he could get a nice apartment as soon as he graduates. He’s starting a little late with only a year left of college, but still. Better late than never, right?

Besides, he’d like to live in the peaceful silence of a single dorm for as long as possible because they’re moving him in with another person at the start of the fall semester.

It’s his fault for losing the comfortable solitude of a single person dorm. The college recently added on a newer, modern apartment building on the school's property. It had massive rooms compared to the dorms on campus. So when he heard that they were opening a wait list for it, he literally stayed up until three in the morning when the registration for it opened to snag a spot. 

But he didn’t read the fine print - it meant he had to dorm with someone. Which he found out after he got the approval. There was no way that he was just going to give up that spot either. He’s fine with living with someone else; it’ll just take some getting used to is all. Plus, it might be easier to split the rent if they end up having to pay it - he’s not quite sure how on campus apartments work. 

He sighs, resting his chin on his hands while he surveys the store. It’s not a big pet store chain, more family oriented with a small staff. He only got the job because they were desperate for another employee to help in the dog grooming station they have. Seeing as most people in this area are college kids or recent graduates, they don’t get a lot of action. Well, except for those who can afford to take care of a pet. Or the little kids that still live with their parents. Or elderly people.

Okay, maybe they get a bit more business than he thinks. It just feels incredibly slow today.

He's shaken out of his thoughts when the bells above the door chime to let him know that a customer has entered. He straightens up behind the register. Time to appear professional.

It’s the way the guy walks that gets Donghun’s attention; an odd shuffling pace that is reminiscent of a child being shoved onto a new school campus. It lacks confidence and energy. He doesn’t want to bother the man just yet, more keen on seeing if he finds what he’s looking for before offering his assistance. Besides, his lunch break was about ten minutes away. Does he really want to run the risk of losing some of that sweet break time by talking to a stranger? Not really.

It takes a little over three minutes for the man to approach Donghun empty handed. Donghun represses a sigh and perks up a bit, flashing a smile as the other got closer.

“How can I help you, sir?” Donghun asks politely, watching as the man opens and then shuts his mouth.

Donghun’s been through this borderline awkward silence before with other customers. It still makes him want to roll his eyes into the back of his skull. Still, he waits patiently for the man to describe what he’s looking for. Besides, it gives him a chance to survey the man in front of him. 

The man’s hair is a dark brown, parted in the middle and long enough to show off the seemingly natural waves of it. There are obvious bags under his eyes, which leads Donghun to wonder how late the guy stayed up the night before. Despite the hot weather (and Donghun’s prayers to get rid of said weather), the man wears a thick red sweatshirt. Maybe he can’t remember what he’s looking for because he’s overheating. Donghun entertains the thought while the man tries to get his shit in order.

“I’m looking for uh..” The man pauses, hands moving to draw out what he’s trying to describe. “It’s like a litter box but it’s inconspicuous? Not small, you know? But not like….so glaringly obvious? A subtle litter box.”

“A...subtle litter box?”

“Yes. One that would blend well with an apartment? The one I’m currently using is a bit big and it would get in the way.” The man says, dropping his hands to his sides out of defeat. “Did any of that make any sense?”

Donghun wishes that he could say no. He gets the gist of what the man wants, yes, but neither of them know how to describe a ‘subtle’ litter box. But now he’s determined to try and figure out what the hell the man is talking about so they can move on with their days. As bright and polite he may be, he really doesn’t want to waste much more time on this. He takes a small breath, smile returning to his face. 

“Do you mean a compact litter box by any chance?” Donghun asks. That seems to spark something in the man’s mind, his face lighting up in a bright smile as he snaps his fingers.

“Yes! That’s the word I was looking for, compact. Not subtle.” The other says with an embarrassed laugh. “Do you guys have any of those?”

Donghun just mentally cheers to himself. Success. 

“Yes we do, sir. I’ll take you to them.” He says politely, stepping out from behind the register to lead Jun down one of the cat oriented aisles. “A lot of these have little roofs over them that way you can attach deodorizers to them.” He stops in front of the selections, pointing out the cheaper and more expensive ones. Once the man thanks him Donghun gives him the whole 'if you have any questions come find me' conversation before he wanders back to the register. 

A few minutes later and his lunch break officially starts and he’s graced with the chance to leave on time. The person that works during his lunch shift actually comes in on time for once - maybe this is his good karma. As he’s exiting the store, he sees that the man he helped has moved on to the toy aisle. He can’t help but genuinely smile a bit - he loves when owners are inclined to spoil their pets.

Most days he would just drive back to his dorm and make lunch. It was one of the many perks of not being an absolutely dreadful cook. However, he just has to walk down the block today to head to a quiet little cafe after he promised Sehyoon that he’d have lunch with him. Or them, rather. Wherever Sehyoon was these days, his roommate Byeongkwan seemed to be right next to him.

If he were a different man, he’d pick apart every aspect of their friendship to fully decode the fine line of ‘just friends’ and ‘probably dating’. He’s no love doctor - hell, romance is far from his skill set. Yet there’s just an incredibly, overly fond way that Sehyoon looks at Byeongkwan. He’s not sure if Sehyoon has even noticed that he does that. It’s like watching a drama. A bad, cliche, cheap drama. 

Surely, if Donghun were smitten over someone (and too oblivious to actually realize it), Sehyoon would probably call him out on it. But he wasn’t smitten over someone so Sehyoon couldn’t say shit to him as far as he was concerned.

It wasn’t that Donghun was stuck up - it’s that he cared and loved way too hard. A few bad experiences ranging from either growing too committed too fast or having bad communication had taught him that if you were too nice to someone, your life could get fucked up.

This realization had made him guarded as a person. His last date had been freshman year; it was with a charming man that he'd met at orientation. The other guy had been nice and they had lasted for nearly the whole year but....the guy cut contact with him after Donghun got too focused on his final projects. Maybe Donghun should've chased after him and talked everything out. In the end, their break up had been unofficial, but they both mutually assumed it was over after they didn't contact each other for the first half of sophomore year.

That idea was cemented when the guy moved on and hooked up with a girl from the graphic design department. They're a cute couple, he follows both of them on Instagram.

There was no doubt in his mind that he could be partially to blame for his relationships falling out. His high school career had been filled with kids walking over him; a natural phenomena which continued to occur in his first year of college. So the happy, relaxed exterior became an interior and he became a little more bitter. Closed off. Cynical. He was still a nice guy on all accounts, many people still would ask him for help in class and he'd end up helping no matter what. It's just that everyone was kept at arm's length. Out of his grasp so history wouldn't be repeated.

Then he met Sehyoon. Quiet Sehyoon - cool Sehyoon. The other had been the definition of a 'thorn in your side'. He had been assigned to Donghun to make an original piece of music as their first final sophomore year. Sehyoon composed a piece and Donghun sang some crappy little lyrics he wrote out of his angst filled heart. They bonded over cringe-worthy lyrics and before Donghun got a chance to push him away, Sehyoon was a constant presence in his life. A three week project can do that to two people.

They formed a friendship through workout routines and shitty cafe coffee. And honesty. Brutal, brutal honesty. 

Then Sehyoon brought Byeongkwan and, well, Donghun can’t hate anyone that Sehyoon seems smitten over. That’s just a mean-spirited thing to do. Besides, Byeongkwan was great in his own way. Energetic and kind. He meshed well with them, somehow balancing out Donghun’s and Sehyoon’s traits. He might not be as close as he wishes he was with Byeongkwan. He's not sure how close he wants to be to Byeongkwan. 

So he isn’t all that surprised when he looks through the cafe window as he approaches and sees the both of them already sitting at a table. If anything, he’d be more surprised (and perhaps a little worried) if only one of them was there. The door lets out a friendly little chime as he steps in and scuffs the bottom of his shoes on the welcome mat. A chorus of greetings rise from the employees at the counter. He just nods his head in greeting and moves to sit down at the booth with Sehyoon and Byeongkwan.

“Hi, Donghun!” Byeongkwan chirps happily, sitting up a little straighter. “Is work going well?”

“Yeah, we haven’t been too busy.” Donghun says with a shrug. “Did you guys order already?”

“Yeah.” It’s Sehyoon that speaks this time, wiggling a table buzzer in between two fingers. “I got you your usual.”

“My usual?”

“Mhm - it is the potato soup and toast, right? With iced tea?” Sehyoon questions. Donghun just grins a bit and nods. “Don’t worry about paying me back either, alright? Let’s say that this is making it up for the fact that you paid for my movie ticket the last time we went out.”

Donghun is content with that deal. Instead he turns his attention towards keeping the conversation alive. 

“Are you both ready for the new semester?” He asks, tracing small designs on the surface of the table to keep himself interested. Sehyoon just nods while Byeongkwan perks up at the question. 

“Yeah! I talked to my counselor and we managed to work out some problems in my schedule. Now I get to take the dance class I wanted to take freshman year!” Byeongkwan beams happily, frowning a bit when Sehyoon lets out a small laugh.

“The reason they didn’t let you take it was because you were a freshman and had a lot of general courses to take. Besides, I’m pretty sure you had to take the level one class before taking the level two class since you didn’t have any dance classes in your last year of high school.” Sehyoon deadpans, but there’s hardly any negativity to his words.

Byeongkwan pouts, jutting out his lower lip. “Still. I feel like I just wasted time and money on the level one class.”

Donghun lets out a soft laugh. “Yeah, well. We all have had to do classes we don’t wanna do.” He says. Lord knows that Donghun had to do a lot of classes that he thought were useless. Like the class focused solely on maintaining his pitch in freshman year. He could do that on his own, thank you very much.

Byeongkwan looks like he’s about to say something but the buzzer in Sehyoon’s hand goes off before the words leave his mouth. In a matter of seconds he swipes the buzzer from Sehyoon’s hand with a quick ‘I’ll get it!’ and is out of the booth before either of them can comment on it. Donghun looks at Sehyoon and smirks a bit at the sight. The other seems to be completely entranced with watching Byeongkwan walk away. Who knew that Sehyoon was this disgustingly obvious about his crush on Byeongkwan?

Donghun knew, that's who. 

“So, when are you going to stop ogling Byeongkwan whenever he’s not looking?” Donghun asks mirthfully, kicking Sehyoon’s shin under the table.

Sehyoon snaps his gaze over to him, looking offended. “I’m not - I’m not ogling! I’m just…he's just....” Sehyoon breaks off into a muffled grumble. “Just wait until you get a hot roommate, jerk. You won’t be able to pick on me then.” He huffs, crossing his arms and slouching back into the cushions of the chair.

“I can guarantee you that I will not have any interest in my roommate - hot or not.” Donghun rolls his eyes, watching as Byeongkwan starts to make his way back over with their tray of food. “Oh, Sehyoon?”

“What?”

“I never mentioned anything about a hot roommate. You brought that up all on your own.” He laughs, watching as a blush creeps onto Sehyoon’s cheeks. 

Before either of them can jab at each other any further, Byeongkwan slides the tray of food onto the table and returns to his seat next to Sehyoon. He glances at the both of them - Donghun’s amused grin and Sehyoon’s slight scowl and cocks his head to the side.

“Did I miss something?” He asks, moving to pick up one of the plates off of the tray.

“No you didn’t-” Sehyoon starts.

“Yes you did-” Donghun says, cutting Sehyoon off. Sehyoon looks at him with a leveling glare and Donghun just smiles. “He was talking about a coworker who tripped and knocked over a display he had set up, that’s all.”

“Oh.” Byeongkwan says, nodding a bit. “You’ll have to tell me about it later, Sehyoon!”

“Yeah. Yeah I will.” Sehyoon murmurs, sounding a tad bit relieved. God, did he think that Donghun of all people would rat him out? If he weren’t so hungry, he’d be offended. Instead he just picks up his bowl of soup and side plate of toast and places it in front of himself happily. It had been awhile since he’d gotten potato soup.

An employee comes around a few minutes later to serve them their drinks. With lunch properly underway, none of them try to pick on each other. Not like Donghun could pick on either of the two without getting tag teamed. Even if it was all out of love, it was an uneven fight.

Hm. Maybe his roommate will be pleasant enough to introduce to the group. Four of them would make it a fair fight when it came to picking on each other. 

The silence lasts up until halfway through their respective meals. Donghun’s only silent because he’s scared that there’s food stuck in his braces and he doesn’t want to talk until he confirms that there isn’t. It’s a real fear he has - even if he’s in front of friends. He runs his tongue over his teeth, takes a drink and repeats. He thinks he’s okay.

“Hey Donghun, have you heard anything about your potential roommate? Other than the fact that you’re getting one?” Sehyoon asks as he cuts into another slice of french toast.

“Hm? No. Don’t they only tell you about your roommate when you move in? That’s something you should know.” Donghun says as he motions over to Byeongkwan.

“Well I dunno. They could’ve changed it.” Sehyoon hums. “Are the apartments co-ed?”

“I think some floors will be co-ed. I read something about it.”

“Oh~ What if you get a girl?” Byeongkwan cuts in, blinking owlishly in Donghun’s direction. “What will you do?”

“...Live with her?” Donghun poses it as a question more than anything. “As long as they’re nice, I don’t really care.”

“And by nice, you mean they’ll actually clean up after themselves.” Sehyoon pitches in wisely, finishing off the last of his drink.

Donghun just nods.

“Exactly.”

They part ways half an hour later, Donghun excusing himself to go back to work and Byeongkwan pulling Sehyoon off to look at some new plates for their dorm. The eldest just shakes his head as Sehyoon lets himself get led away.

How cute - they’re already picking out dishware together.

Donghun returns to work to find the few people he shares a shift with struggling with an influx of people. He doesn’t mind helping out, really, seeing as it gives him something to do for a while. When he heads home to the dorms later that afternoon, he can’t help but feel nostalgic.

The dorms are old, but freshly painted with a white color scheme. There isn’t much that is distinct about them, but they’re familiar. He’s been living in them since he was a freshman - his first memory of this place had been when he was working hard on an appeal to stay in one of the nicer single person dorms all because he feared having a roommate that partied too much. 

This place had been his first taste of true independence.

And now that chapter of his life was coming to a close. He lets out a quiet sigh and makes his way inside. He’s blessed that he lives on the first floor, especially now that he'll be moving out soon. Moving boxes won't be that big of a pain.

Especially since he's bullying Sehyoon and Byeongkwan to help him move some stuff. He helped them move when their dorm room got changed after all - and they were on the seventh floor! It’ll take some convincing, but they’ll agree with the right bribery. Probably.

He's come to love his dorm, tucked away in the far right end of the hallway. His neighbors are quiet and the only real issue he's ever had is too much sunlight from the two windows that join at the corner of the building. Most people probably wouldn't complain about that, but those windows have a special place in Donghun’s heart as the most annoying aspects of his room. There's just something about getting full on blasted by sunlight at nine in the morning every single day that he doesn't particularly like.

He nudges open his door, avoiding the creaking noise by only opening it wide enough to slip inside. 

The cramped little room unfolds in front of him. His bed is neatly made, dull blue covers wrinkle free. His desk and desk chair were once a popular place for him to cram his last minute projects, but now they are both stacked with boxes and bags. He would’ve never thought that he’d accumulate so much junk over the last three years of living in the dorms. Yet here he was with shelves full of books, picture frames, action figures and anything else he found interesting. 

It was going to be awful trying to pack this place up. He sighs, kicking his shoes off and placing them on the shoe rack.

He’s more than happy when he collapses onto his bed, staring up at the stucco ceiling quietly. It hits him, then and there, that he’ll be out of this choke-hold of a dorm room and in a new apartment across campus in mere weeks. When he reads the emails about it, the dates seem so far away.

Yet the latest possible move in date is only three weeks away.

Though he supposes he can understand. The new semester starts in five weeks and the school wants everyone to have at least two weeks to settle into their new places. He can see the logic in it. A discontented sigh forces itself out of him as he rolls onto his side.

He glances at his laptop, perched precariously on a stool that he's been using as a rickety night stand. Before even really thinking about it, he props himself up on one elbow to reach out and grab it.

There's no harm in checking his email.

There's no update on the new living situation, but there is a new job offer laid out in front of him - a rather familiar one at that.

The university radio was renowned on campus to bring in different aspects of variety and music onto campus life. It's popularity was definitely aided by the fact that the school was fancier, thus allowing it to get better equipment. His school was also one of the few that focused entirely on any aspect of art, so the radio station was a bit more popular. Especially with kids trying to get a music career started before they even graduated.

Donghun was one of those students.

He had been a freshman, petrified of the concept of talking to a live audience. But as a Vocal Performance major with a minor in Communication Arts, it became essential to submerge himself into such a position. He had first started working in their radio station by hosting a thirty minute segment where he’d play promoted songs for twenty minutes and discuss local advertisements for ten. Somewhere along the way, he had fallen in love with the job.

In his sophomore year, a bunch of the radio ‘personalities' had graduated. So he got bumped up to co-hosting a musical review talk show with some of the theater kids. It had been fun. It also got him incredibly hooked onto going and seeing every musical performed on campus.

Junior year is where he really blossomed. With a bunch of seniors once again graduating, they shut down shows. Some were because no one had any knowledge in the subject and others were dashed just because they had lost popularity. Donghun had grown a little following from the musical talk show, a meager handful of people who he started to recognize by name because they would often send in requests they wanted to hear during the breaks in the show.

So the radio station offered him a personal slot. In correspondence with how long he’d been on other shows, they let him create his own setup. He even got a little ‘give a tip’ page where a few people would send in a small donation of money. Usually it was mere pocket change and he necessarily didn't see the point in it - but what student would turn down even the smallest amount of pay? Besides, it funded his late night spending sprees..

Thus, the ‘Midnight Muses’ show was created. It was a one man show that was ran from ten at night to midnight focused on keeping the people working awake and putting the sleepy students to sleep. Donghun would accept questions and give advice, get philosophical, advertise things going on campus, play music - anything. His show became increasingly popular during finals week, even if the show wouldn't air as often because he himself had finals he was dying over.

It was on that show that he sang on air for the first time.

And people stayed.

He sighs fondly at the memory, eyes trailing the lines of the message. ‘We would love to have you back as a host!’ is one of the first sentences in the email. He’s been waiting for this message.

Donghun sits up properly, laptop In front of him as he replies to the email. In a way, bringing Midnight Muses back will give him a chance to escape his roommate if they're as dreadful as Donghun fears.

There is no thought in his reply. It’s more of an automatic thing, clicking send after barely glancing at the response to see if everything was spelled right.

His paranoia will make him check it later, long after it’s too late to change it. But right now he’s content with knowing that his show was popular enough for them to offer him his position back. So Donghun comfortably settles down and pushes his laptop out of reach near the foot of the bed. There’s a soft sigh lingering on his lips but it’s quickly overridden with the desire to sleep.

The next week and a half falls into a repetitive pattern. Go to work, help out customers, yell at co-workers, go out with Sehyoon and Byeongkwan, come home, check emails, sleep. It’s a pattern that is growing familiar as much as Donghun despises it. It's a boring way to live but there's literally nothing new to do at the moment. It's as if life is on autopilot.

So when a new email pops up, bold and stating that the apartment moves are finally available, reality decides to check on Donghun. Again. But this time the reality check is welcomed. 

The email is right in front of him, laying out every aspect and detail he’d need to know. They want him checking and moving in next week - which does stress him out a tad, seeing as he has barely started packing. Sehyoon had bullied him into putting all his action figures away yesterday under the complaint that Donghun would take to long to do it at any given point.

Which was a fair assessment.

The email gives him a bit of insight into his roommate as well. Nothing related to name or age, just the barest possible facts.

“Your roommate is a transfer student who will be going into his Junior year.” Donghun reads out loud despite being alone. “Based off the survey you took when you applied, we made sure to match you up with someone in the same major as you. Please be sure to make him feel welcome.”

The first wave of relief is over the fact that the mystery roommate is a male. Of course a girl would have been fine but it just feels….more relatable, to dorm with a guy.

The second bit of relief comes from the fact that they’re in the same major. There’s something exciting about the concept of them getting along and walking to class together. Mainly because he doesn’t get to do that with Sehyoon or Byeongkwan. 

The transfer student concept is what piques his interest the most. As far as he was aware, it was hard to transfer into this school. It wasn’t a cheap place to begin with, hell Donghun only survives because of his high grades and scholarships. His family is by no means poor in any way either, they’re well off in many aspects. This place just makes them look poor. 

Furthermore, the school required that you have written approvals from three different teachers in the Arts Department of your university before even they would consider looking at the transfer application. He only knows that because one of his classmates last year, Yoo Kihyun if he recalls right, had transferred from another well known arts school. 

Oh god, what if his roommate is a rich and snobbish brat with connections? He’s not sure if he could handle rooming with a rich guy. He can already imagine the insults he’d get thrown at him! 

Donghun scrunches his face together, licking his lips and forcing himself to concentrate. The email rattles off some more general information for him. One bedroom, one bathroom. Non-studio. Nice lighting. Since it’s technically a campus run apartment, the rent is less than other places would be.

Nice, nice, nice.

The singular bedroom worries him a smidge. Then again, he did check the box ‘any bedroom is fine’ on the fill-out form. At least it isn’t a studio apartment, though. Plus it sounds like there will be enough room for a television set. That’s exciting - he couldn’t get one that would fit in this shoe box of a place. 

One last glance through all the information lets Donghun know that his apartment is going to be on the fourth floor. The dreams of having a seamless move have all but vanished at the realization.

He casts a glance out the window, admiring the sky as the sun sets. His gaze follows the long white hallway that connects a good portion of the upper lot together, the hallway making a sort of arrow pointing to the lower lot where the bigger buildings are spaced out. If he were at a closer range, he would see the newly installed marble fountains and the sculptures from past students. From his distance, the new apartment building is nothing but a spec. 

In person, it’s apparently nine floors high with working elevators that don't sound like they're ready to drop you without any notice. 

It's moments like these where he's thankful that he has a car. The move becomes so much easier when you don't have to carry everything over by hand. They have to have a parking lot on the opposite side of campus, right? Especially for a new residential area. Probably. It would be stupid not to have it.

It may be silly - but he’s giddy over the fact that he’ll be driving down the ‘university access only’ road. He’s never had to drive down it before in all his time here.

To make things even better, he had talked Sehyoon and Byeongkwan into helping him move in. It may have taken three pizzas and a disgruntled promise to go on whatever vacation the school has planned for the senior class, but he got them to agree. He even has a napkin with their signatures on it if they try to back out of it.

It’s good to have all his bases covered.

He shuts his laptop shut with a hint of finality to all of it. There's a sort of somber feeling to all of this. As he crawls off his bed and retrieves a towel from his the shelf in his compact closet, he's left feeling a bit excited.

He won't have to use a public shower anymore. Even a nice, rich school has its downsides. 

The thought of being free from a communal shower makes digging around for all his shower supplies easier. He won't have to continuously go buy travel size shampoos and conditioners or do panicked power walks in a robe from the showers to the dorm.

Ah, it's the simple pleasure of a nice private bathroom that he misses the most.

With everything gathered up in his arms (aside from the robe, which he wears with the grace of an elderly man going out to get a newspaper), he exits his dorm and walks off to the showers.

Donghun takes simple joy in the getting to enjoy his bright-ass crocs in the privacy of the shower stall.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen....i had to fight ao3 to get this chapter up...it's been giving me an error message for at least half a day but its HERE NOW
> 
> also pls understand that if u think Donghun is a bit mean in this chapter.....honestly i would be like this too in his situation  
> Maybe not exactly how he acts but I would definitely feel where he's coming from lmao
> 
> but we get 2 meet Junhee now~~ i'm still not 100% confident with his character but I'm getting there.
> 
> any typos belong to me~

Donghun wakes up three hours early. It’s only eight in the morning, but he’s already rolling out of bed and scrambling to find clean clothes.

It’s his day off because it’s moving day. Which subsequently makes it check in day.

So he essentially has to hustle over to the apartments to get his key and room number. Then he has to hurry back over here to start loading his boxes into his car with the help of the other two. He wanted to do it now so he could move in right away but they seemed less keen on the whole ‘lift heavy boxes at eight in the morning’ concept he was trying to pitch them. 

They’re probably curled up in their warm beds right now while he’s tugging on his tattered high top sneakers. Whatever. At least he’ll be settled in a nice multi-roomed apartment by the end of the day. Meanwhile they’ll still be stuck in a sardine can.

Maybe he’s just a bit spiteful over having to go out into the brisk weather.

The campus dorm building is silent at this time of morning. It’s been silent for most of the summer, really - a lot of people either graduated or went home. In all honesty, it would be the perfect setting for a horror movie. Yet here Donghun is, walking out onto campus. 

The weather’s nice, the season reaching the point of ‘cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon’. The stroll through campus allows thoughts to drift through his mind. It’s the main reason that he didn’t take his car.

That and gas money, anyway. 

He’ll never get over how large the university is. He always imagines these prestigious universities as small layouts since there would arguably be less students. But this university tossed that thought right out of his mind. The place is so damn big that it even has its own park in it. Last year he had gotten curious and went for a walk starting from one side of the campus to the other and discovered that at a normal walking speed it had taken almost an hour and a half. Which is why he's walking a bit quicker than usual.

Not only that, but it’s modern and sleek and full of greenery. 

The upper lot has all of the classrooms connected by one large main hallway - built to protect students from any heavy snowfall they get in the winter. If you were to look over the hallway rail, you’d find that there’s actually a street under it for students and staff to use to get across campus quicker. Most of Donghun’s classes are up here, branching out from the main hallway as two floor complexes in sleek, modern white tiles. 

All the classes that don’t require large spaces or machines are taught on the upper lot, while classes like dance and architecture are taught on the lower lot. 

As he makes it to the halfway point of the hallway, he passes by the radio station. It’s the tallest building on the upper lot; it stands nearly ten storeys tall if he remembers right. He doesn’t care enough to look up and check. 

He passes the auditorium as he finally breaks away from the upper part of campus. The auditorium is like a mark between the central and non-central part of the school. He has to go down a set of stairs to properly be on the lower, back lot of campus where the apartments are. 

Even then, he isn’t close. 

There’s still a few classrooms to walk past. Namely the dance studio and fashion department. Most people come to the school for those two classes. Architecture is the third ranking in popularity. 

The lower lot is also riddled with statues created by students and fountains commissioned by the school. Aside from the classrooms, it also holds the gym, library, student store, food court and a very small health center. The last place is a particular godsend for Donghun since his voice often goes out after he practices for too long whenever he needs to practice a song. 

It’s the one school that he can understand why the tuition is so expensive. That’s not even putting into consideration how dedicated all the staff is. 

For example, his professor last year literally took the class of sixty kids on a field trip to a live musical over three hours away because she wanted to show them what ‘singing from the heart’ looked like.

Ah, good times.

By the time he finally gets to the lush green grass patches (which contrast to the white concrete surrounding them), it’s almost nine fifteen. A glance over the premises shows a small line starting to form, some people with their stuff and others without. As he approaches, he eyes a few of the staff sitting behind a long table. 

So this is where they check in. 

He doesn’t talk to anyone as he shuffles towards the back of the line. There’s an odd curiosity unfurling in him as he scopes out some of the guys, though. One of them could be the roommate the email talked about.

There’s a few recognizable faces in the line. Past classmates or radio hosts. A few just flat out popular students, too. Like Park Seungjun, for example. He’s known to be one of the tallest guys on campus. Donghun knows him from the radio station. Seungjun’s show is all about food and how to cook on a budget.

Hopefully they’ll bring that show back this year, Donghun needs it. 

The line trickles by slowly and it leaves Donghun a bit paranoid. He still has to walk back and get all his stuff loaded and he’s pretty sure that Sehyoon will get pissy if he woke up just for Donghun to be late to his own moving day. He glances at his phone and sighs a little. Nine forty. Okay, there’s still time. If worse comes to worse he’ll send out a text to Sehyoon and say he’ll be a bit late.

He passes the time by taking in all the details of his new home. The place they’re checking in at is technically in front of the apartments, but it seems like you have to take stairs to get down to the first floor of the building. As he surveys the terrain, he can see why. They’re technically uphill of the apartments.

Further investigation shows how modern the building is - it is six floors high with gray paneling and beautiful windows that show off each floors personal lobby. He’d read about that too - they had wanted to encapsulate dorm living with ‘the responsibility of rent’. Well, they’re doing a fantastic job. 

The beautiful building distracts him as one of the ladies calls ‘next’ and tries to get his attention. Belatedly, he realizes that it’s actually him that she’s referring to and he’s quick to stride over to her.

“Good morning, doll.” She says cheerily. “Zoning out a bit?”

“Good morning miss - and yeah, just a bit.”

She chuckles, voice light.

“Can I see your school identification please?” She asks lightly, taking the card carefully when he hands it to her. She looks over it and turns her attention to the binder in front of her, flipping through the pages.

There’s a few moments of silence aside from the general chatter of the people around them. It leaves him nervous, should it be taking this long to find him? What if they forgot to put him down for a room? What would he have to do -

“Ah! Here you are.” She says after another moment, handing his ID back to him and squashing all his paranoia with those four words. “Lee Donghun, floor four, apartment 6B. It says you’re rooming with a transfer student, can you confirm that?”

“Yes miss. I got the email saying that I would have a transfer student as a roommate and that I should do my best to make him feel welcome.” Donghun recites politely, straightening his back a bit.

“Good good.” She says with a smile, leaning over to a box to collect some things. “Your roommate has not checked in just yet - it could be that he’s in line somewhere or simply has a different date that adheres to his schedules. He will be moving in by the middle of next week, though. But this is all for you.” She states, setting a booklet down along with a set of keys.

“The booklet has all the rules that we wish you will follow. This is your set of keys but your roommate will also get his own, so you don’t have to worry about waiting up for him whenever he shows up.” She explains as Donghun takes all the stuff.

“Thank you for all of this.” Donghun says, a more natural grin spreading on his face. “Am I allowed to enter now just to see?”

“Go ahead!”

Donghun just smiles and gives a polite thank you again, walking away and over to the staircase to start his adventure. He can see the stairs probably annoying him one day, but he’ll just consider it an extra workout. The place is fancy, to say the least. Much like something he’d see on a movie he’d watch. It’s not close to penthouse status, but he can find himself living comfortably here. 

There’s a rush of relief as he sees a ‘park here’ sign hanging off the building with an arrow pointing towards the back lot. He’s thankful - he was scared that he’d have to hike all the way to and from the main parking lots! 

He smiles, eyes bright as he steps up to the entrance and listens to the whizzing sound of the doors sliding open for him. 

The inside is even prettier - it even has that ‘new building’ smell. It looks more like a fancy hotel than a standard apartment! There’s even a directory that says where everything is. The first floor holds no rooms - it’s much more like a lobby than anything. It has the laundry room and a mini workout room. He’ll probably end up using the actual gym on campus, but the thought of a new laundry room makes him very happy. 

Even the elevators are nice. They’re smooth and have the automated ‘going up’ voice when you press what floor you want to go to.

He pinches himself to see if he’s dreaming. 

His room isn’t hard to find. All the ‘A’ rooms are on the left and the ‘B’ rooms on right. It seems that there are only six rooms on each side but if anything it just makes him happier. He won’t have a ton of annoying neighbors.

Unlocking the door to 6B, he finds himself reveling in how the door is silent. The apartment walls are bare and off white, matching nicely with the oak floor. He shakes his shoes off at the entrance, not wanting to scuff the floor up.

The living room is massive, much larger than he thought. The couch is more or less in the middle of the room, a subtle peach shade. It faces a hanging flat screen television and that alone makes Donghun break into a grin. There’s an empty bookshelf directly next to the television, empty.

No worries, Donghun will fill that up really quick.

In the living room, there’s a piece of wall sticking out with a sliding door on it. It seems too small to be a bed or a bathroom and as he walks closer, he’s happy to find that it’s a closet. Probably one for anything they can’t fit in the bedroom storage.

He also takes joy out of seeing an air conditioning and heating control unit stuck to the wall of the living room closet. The dorms had set temperatures. Now he could set it to whatever he wanted.

Perfect.

He doesn’t tour a lot of the place, mainly just scopes out where the bedroom was so he can toss the booklet on a bed and preemptively claim it in case his roommate also shows up today. The bed he picked is the one that is the furthest away from the window. He’ll let his roommate get woken up by the harsh rays of sun everyday.

With a happy grin and a hop in his step, he exits the apartment and locks the door up, sliding his key into his pocket.

It isn’t until he checks the time again that he lets out a distressed noise. A little past ten twenty. 

It’s going to take at least thirty minutes for him to walk back to his dorm. 

His face scrunches in thought as he calculates the time. He’ll get there at ten fifty at the earliest, but might creep past eleven o’clock if he does a leisurely stroll. Would Sehyoon and Byeongkwan get there right at eleven? He doesn’t think they would.

He’ll send a text out just in case. He fiddles around with his phone, pulling up his messaging app.

**(10:26 AM) Donghun:**  
_Might be a little late, walking back from apartment complex._

There, short and sweet. With that covered, he starts his brisk walk up the stairs and makes a beeline for the dorms.

When he gets back on the upper lot, he decides that he’s thankful for getting dragged out to the gym by Sehyoon. He probably wouldn’t have made it up so quickly otherwise. He’s maybe a good ten minutes from the dorms now and last time he checked it was 10:48. He’s doing fantastic in all accounts.

There’s something oddly therapeutic about thinking about moving day. Maybe it’s the feeling of starting fresh in a new place. It feels like he’ll be strangely far from Sehyoon and Byeongkwan - they were staying at the dorms. What would normally be a five minute walk (seeing as they were in the building next to him) would now be a thirty to forty minute walk. Or a few minute drive, when he wasn't saving up on gas.

It’s kinda depressing but also kinda exciting. They’ll have weird dorm stories to share now that he won’t be around to see what happens and he’ll have weird roommate stories. 

There's an underlying urge to make friends with whoever he rooms with. Unless they’re an asshole. Then he’ll just try to be friendly with the neighbors. 

By the time he gets back to his dorm, he still manages to beat Sehyoon and Byeongkwan there. Which shouldn’t surprise him. It gives him some time to properly take everything in and say goodbye to the dorm.

So when there’s knocking on his door a little after 11:20, he’s ready to go. The moving of his boxes to his car is filled with light joking and all three of them trying to hypothesize what his roommate will be like. Donghun wants someone nice, Sehyoon is rooting on someone hot and Byeongkwan is convinced that his roommate will be a pompous rich boy. 

Surviving a car ride - despite it being so short - with the both of them is utter hell. No, he doesn’t know his roommate, that’s why he’s hypothesizing about him. No, he will not be introducing them to his roommate right away. What if they scare him off? Or what if his roommate is a bad seed? 

Byeongkwan is still young and impressionable to him no matter how much the other complains. He will not bring in a bad influence.

He feels a sense of glee when he pulls up into one of the parking spaces behind the apartment building. Byeongkwan lets out a loud ‘wow’ in the backseat, hopping out of the vehicle as soon as it stopped.

“These look so nice!” Byeongkwan squawks, gesturing at the building wildly as the other two clamber out. “And this is only the backside of it!”

“Yeah, well. The inside is even nicer.” Donghun says with a laugh, shaking his head and moving to pop the trunk. “You’ll get to see it faster if you come get a box -” He doesn’t even have to finish his statement before the youngest is bouncing over to him and taking the smallest possible box and booking it off towards the complex.

“Does he even know where to go?” Sehyoon asks, nudging Donghun out of the way as he goes to grab one of the larger boxes.

“Nope.” He responds, popping the ‘p’ loudly. “He’ll realize it when he gets there and remembers that he never bothered to ask for my room number.”

There isn’t any surprise when they walk into the lobby to see Byeongkwan standing there awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot.

“I...uh…” Byeongkwan starts, nose crinkling as he pulls a face.

“You don’t know where you’re going.” Donghun says, smiling.

“I don’t know where I’m going.” The other confirms quietly, shifting the box in his arms. “So uh….lead the way?”

Donghun just lets out a little snort, nodding as he breezes past Byeongkwan to the elevator. He has to manhandle the box to pin it against the wall and his side while he actually calls the elevator, but he considers that his impressive feat of the day.

As soon as they make it to his apartment, Byeongkwan practically throws his box onto the couch and shaking his arms out and whining about how numb they are. Sehyoon mutters a comment that's dangerously close to ‘you’re being a baby’, but Byeongkwan doesn’t seem to catch it. Oh well, that’s probably for the best.

Donghun rolls his eyes and sets his box carefully on the floor, brushing off his hands. 

“Come on, we still have a few things to get from my car. I’ll let you guys go once everything's up here - I’ll unpack it all myself.” Donghun says, shooing them out of the apartment again.

“What about the pizzas you promised?” Byeongkwan pouts. “Was that a lie to get us to work for you?”

“You’ll get the pizza, I’ll call it in and have them deliver it to your dorm building. I'll even give them Sehyoon's number so you can get it.” Donghun reassures, laughing a little at the worried tone of Byeongkwan’s voice. “I’m not in the mood to eat pizza so early in the day. Besides, I have to go grocery shopping for this place.”

Byeongkwan takes that comment with a pleased nod, Sehyoon mimicking the action. Sehyoon could act as stoic as he wants - it doesn’t change that the guy would bend over backwards for a free meal. Loser.

The rest of the unloading process goes by fairly quickly with the reward of pizza looming in front of them. By the time the final load is set, it’s barely half past noon. Now that he looks at all the boxes, he realizes just how much stuff he had. Did he really have nine boxes worth of junk in his dorm? Jesus.

He shoos them out of his apartment shortly after, insisting that he could handle it all on his own. The first thing he does when they’re gone is call and order the pizzas for them, figuring that by them time they get back to the dorms, it’ll be there. Or well, maybe they should sprint since they’re walking back. Donghun smiles and sends a message out to let them know. Judging from the lack of response but seeing the message get labelled ‘read’, he can only assume that they’re sprinting. Or dying. Perhaps both.

The rest of that early afternoon is spent touring the kitchen and other parts of the house. Judging off of how empty it is, he'll have a lot to buy. There isn't even a dining table or coffee machine! It's a little bare and depressing, but he feels like he's at home.

The late afternoon and early evening is spent grocery shopping and splurging on a new bedspread and some cool comic books he found on sale. Sometimes you just have to treat yourself, you know?

His life for the next five days quickly transitions into a rather domestic one. He's not used to having to buy groceries for an apartment - let alone stock it for two people. What does his roommate even like to eat? How was he supposed to shop for someone he doesn't even know?

There's a few odd and ends that he purchases through the five days. Like three pots and two pans because there was no cooking utensils in the apartment at all. Hell, he had pitched in some extra cash to get some silverware too. See? He was a responsible tenant. He even went as far as to purchase some plates and bowls just so he wouldn't have to live off of paper plates. 

The most ridiculous purchase (according to Sehyoon and Byeongkwan anyway) was the magnetic white board that he had attached to the refrigerator.

While the two gremlins he calls friends picked on him about it, Donghun found it a necessity. 

He had made it a pressing issue that the apartment have rules - nothing tyrannical, but things to make the life with a stranger easier. Like locking the bathroom door while they're showering. And that it would be nice to not have music blasting at three in the morning - they are sharing a bedroom after all. 

He even puts a little note of ‘you can add your own rules! :)’ on the bottom of it. It was an attempt at being fair and he thinks he's doing well. Hopefully his roommate adds a few in. Donghun will do his best to follow them. Probably.

Thankfully, he isn't alone much longer. Literally the day after he sets the whiteboard up, he wakes up to the sound of the front door opening. It takes a second to sink in.

Then he's hurtling himself into a sitting position, scrubbing at his eyes and feeling around for his phone. 3:30. He grimaces. His nap was only supposed to last until two.

The only reason he even took a nap was because he got stuck restocking the heavier items at work today.

How messy did he look? Was he presentable? His hair was a little messed up but it's not like he looks like a wild animal.

It's a little comical - of course his roommate would show up when he was napping. Leisurely sliding off the bed, Donghun tiptoes his way towards the living room. There he gets a first look at who he'll be living with for the next year.

He feels like he's seen the guy crouching next to a suitcase before. But he can't quite place where or when. There's not much time to think about it more before the stranger turns his attention towards Donghun.

“Oh! Good afternoon!” The other says politely, standing up and smoothing his shirt down. “I'm Park Junhee. Jun or Junhee is fine, you can call me whatever you like.”

First impression? Extremely polite. Second impression? Extremely rich. Those suitcases and duffel bags look designer.

Still, it's good that Junhee has manners.

“Hello Junhee. I'm Lee Donghun. Did you have a safe trip here?” He asks, taking in the others appearance.

Dark brown hair, naturally wavy and somehow very soft looking. If he knew him better, he would ask to touch it. But alas, he won't. Still, he can't help but feel that he's seen this guy somewhere. But where the fuck was it? The grocery store?

“Oh yeah - took a train here. It feels good to be out of the cramped cabin I was in.” Junhee says, shrugging slightly.

“How far away was your old school?”

“About…. an 8 hour train ride? I got to stay in an overnight train which was cool. But it just...I dunno. Exhausting?” He asks, sounding confused on how he should feel.

Donghun just laughs a bit. After a moment, he's surveys the others luggage. Two suitcases, two duffel bags and one backpack which seems haphazardly slung over Junhee’s shoulder. Damn, even the backpack is a designer brand. An expensive one at that.

“Did you bring this all up in one trip?” Donghun asks, genuinely impressed.

Junhee just nods in response, smiling. 

“Yeah, it's ridiculously hot outside and I didn't want to be out there longer than necessary.” He explains, morning towards everything. “One of the ladies that checked me in helped me though.”

Donghun smiles. He's happy that the campus is making a good first impression. It's a fantastic campus - it's just a little terrifying when you're alone and new. He makes an effort to ask if Junhee needs help taking all the stuff to the room, but Junhee vehemently shakes his head against the idea.

“I can handle it!” The other grins, nodding lightly as if to convince himself before picking up both duffel bags. “I’m going to go set these in the room first.” He says. He lingers for a second, looking as if he wants to tell Donghun something. Donghun’s about to question it before Junhee walks past him and down the hallway. Hm, interesting.

He shrugs it off and goes into the kitchen, thrumming his fingers around the countertop as he rummages for snacks in one of the hanging cupboards. This isn’t bad at all, if anything, it might be good. Junhee seems nice enough, voice soft and manners polite. They could be friends, maybe. He can see Junhee clicking with the rest of the group. Hey, maybe him and Sehyoon will have a new gym buddy now -

Any thoughts are cut off when he hears something clicking across the wood floor of the kitchen. When he glances down he sees - well. He sees a cat. Which makes no fucking sense. He’s about to say something about the sleek blob of cream fur moving towards him, but Junhee is quick to slide in and scoop the creature up into his arms. Donghun looks at the cat, then at Junhee, then back at the cat.

And then everything makes sense.

Oh. Oh no. He could handle some weird shit. Like if Junhee had an obsession with coffee mugs. Or collecting leaves or rocks. If Junhee were to confess that he collected stamps, maybe Donghun would join in on it. But not a cat. Not another living, breathing thing that was one hundred percent against the rules. It was on the list on the little booklet they got during check-in. It was bold and underlined. No pets. 

(Fish were acceptable as long as they could fit in a five gallon tank. He’s read the booklet three times out of boredom.)

“So, Junhee -”

“Listen. I meant to tell you. But the school wouldn't let me contact you without a reason! I couldn't just....say that I wanted to know if you'd be okay with a pet.” Junhee explains. The cat snuggles closer to Junhee’s chest, purring loudly as he pets down the cat’s back.

“What in the fresh hell are you doing with that in our apartment?” Donghun questions lightly, voice airy as he attempts to reign it all in.

“Hey now, she’s not a ‘that’. This...this is Latte. She knows her name and will usually come to you when you call her.” Junhee says nervously, hugging the cat closer to him. 

Donghun feels his lip twitch. Not only did his roommate bring a cat into the apartment, but he seems to actually expect Donghun to be okay with it.

“You know that's against the rules right?” Donghun says, face twisting into a frown. “If you get caught then both of us will get in trouble.”

His new roommate looks down at the cat who has started to fuss to get out of his arms. He sees Junhee draw his lips into a thin line as he sets her down. Latte looks between the two of them before scampering off back down the hallway, presumably into their room.

“I mean - you won't tell anyone, right?”

“Why shouldn't I tell someone? You're breaking the rules.” Donghun says, voice tight. “What if I had been allergic?”

“Well -”

“Well what? I could've already have had an allergic reaction wouldn't I?” He’s genuinely trying to be civil about this because he knows that not everyone is going to follow rules perfectly. But come on - did this guy even think any of the implications through?

“I guess…sorry.” Junhee mumbles. At least he has the sense to look embarrassed as he rubs absently at his arm. “Look just - don't tell. Please?”

Donghun evaluates him coldly, a near 180 degree turn compared to how friendly they were being just a few minutes ago. With his arms folded against his chest, he frowns at the other. Junhee isn't even looking up at him, having taken interest with the floor. 

Donghun sighs.

“Keep her away from my side of the room. If she gets caught it's your responsibility. It won't be my fault when they take her to the local shelter or one of your relatives.” He grumbles, moving to brush past Junhee and head to their room.

The room that he's now sharing with a cat. Fantastic. Screw the thought of this being a good idea. This wasn’t going to work out at all. Latte sees him enter the room from the part where she’s curled up in an open duffel bag. Closer inspection shows that it’s just a really fancy pet carrier. Dammit. If he weren't so pissed, he would marvel at Junhee's ingenuity of finding a carrier that looks like a small duffel bag.

His shoulders slump once he's out of view. This is not how he wanted their first meeting to go. It probably wasn't how Junhee wanted it to go either. Still, it was all Junhee’s fault - who the hell brings their cat to their damn college?

It wasn't even that he hated cats. It was just the implication of the cat being there. He's absolutely positive that the cat will beg for food or attention or whatever the hell it wants. Then it'll get worse when Junhee is gone. Donghun doesn't want to take partial responsibility over a cat that's been forced upon him. He doesn't want to take care of her at all. He has to be firm with Junhee about that fact. God forbid he gets walked all over again.

He also certainly doesn't want to grow any form of attachment towards her. That way, when she inevitably gets discovered, Donghun won't have any qualms about her being taken away.

The kind side of his brain supplies that Junhee will be upset in that case. Good riddance. He should've thought about the implications of bringing her here.

Stupid Junhee and his stupid designer luggage and his dumb cat. 

They don't talk after that. Donghun takes mild interest over Junhee setting up his side of the room, the other going as far as tucking the small cat bed under his own and patting it to convince the cat to come lay on it while he set everything else up. But other than that he ignores him as pointedly as possible.

At a little past five in the evening, Donghun decides that he can't take the silence anymore and leaves the apartment, calling Sehyoon up to see if they could meet up.

He ends up picking Sehyoon and Byeongkwan in his car and driving them off to a little fast food joint in the middle of town. Neither of them questioned his intentions but maybe that’s because they can sense that he isn’t in a good mood. That’s one of the upsides of being friends with a close knit group. They know that he’ll talk about it eventually, just not while they’re driving.

He stops to wonder if he’s perhaps being a bit too harsh and unfair in his feelings towards his roommate. Nah. It’s not like he’ll rat the guy out. Not today, anyway. That would make it obvious that it were him.

The simple solution would be to get a new roommate. Somehow get Junhee kicked out without negatively affecting Donghun in anyway. He ponders this idea as they park and head into the joint. Would it be obvious if he were to report the cat two months from now?

“What’re we getting to eat, Donghun?” Sehyoon asks, showing Byeongkwan off to find a booth. 

“Family meal, chicken combo. Do you want curly fries or anything else with it?” Donghun asks as he digs out his wallet, thumbing through the cash to make sure he has enough. He may be in a shit mood, but he still plans to treat his friends.

“Curly fries are good. If Byeongkwan doesn’t want them then it’ll just mean more for us.” Sehyoon says with a grin, nudging Donghun towards the register before wandering off to go find wherever Byeongkwan sat down. He’s glad he’s not there to see whatever gross domestic shit they’re doing. He’s in no mood to see it.

He orders the family meal and is as pleasant as possible. The staff doesn't deserve his negativity. The girl taking his order smiles pleasantly as she hands him the buzzer, receipt and three empty cups.

“When the buzzer lights up just come up to the counter with your receipt.” She says happily as he takes the items and heads off to go find the other two. He wonders how fake that girls attitude is.

Maybe he should ask for lessons.

Donghun finds the others easy enough, sliding two of the cups over to them as he takes a seat on the opposite side.

“You guys can go get what you want. I'll stay at the table.” He says plainly, making a slight noise of surprise when Byeongkwan takes the final cup in front of him.

“I'll get your drink for you too. What do you want?” He asks, tapping his fingers against both cups in his hand.

“Coke, please. The normal one, not the diet one.” Donghun responds, not taking his attention off of the table.

Byeongkwan makes a noise of understanding as he wanders off. Donghun can't help but think about his roommate. 

Be sure to be nice to him. The phrase rings in his head. It's not like he's being rude to Junhee or anything. He sure isn't being welcoming, though. It just sucks because everything else about Junhee was nice. Everything was good. Then he decides to break the one rule that was taken seriously in the booklet. 

The two return shortly afterwards, Byeongkwan sliding him his drink. Both of them end up sitting on the opposite side of Donghun again which is fair, but Donghun can’t help but wish that they had an even number right now. He looks like a third wheel.

“So…” Sehyoon starts awkwardly, jabbing his straw into the lid of the drink. “How was your day?”

“It was good.” Donghun says, pausing before sighing. “Emphasis on was.”

“Oh. So are we gonna talk about it then?” Sehyoon asks, leaning back into his seat.

“Yeah. When we have the food.” Donghun says as he sits up straighter. “So, tell me about your guys’ day.”

And that is where Byeongkwan takes over the conversation, excitedly telling him about the various things that they saw around the dorm. Like two pigeons fighting each other for a saltine cracker. Sehyoon pitches in here to confirm that Byeongkwan is the one that threw the cracker. Honestly, it doesn’t surprise Donghun.

Sehyoon just talks about how dreadful work was. He was stuck on customer service duty because the normal girl was out sick. Donghun feels a bit of sympathy towards him but the thought of Sehyoon having to deal with an angry customer brings a smile to his face. He’s pretty sure Sehyoon can handle them pretty well. 

Hearing things about their overall mundane day does cheer him up a bit. Byeongkwan tells his stories with so much enthusiasm that one would think that he’s writing a children's book. Or reading one. Whatever.

Sehyoon is just so matter-of-fact about his whole day. It’s like he’s going through a checklist that’s sprinkled with dry humor. 

The buzzer goes off during Byeongkwan’s long winding tale about a mosquito that trapped itself in between their two window panes. Sehyoon, who seems to be sick of the story, grabs the buzzer and receipt and gets up to leave. Donghun humors Byeongkwan and continues to listen to him either way. Byeongkwan somehow makes it into the most gripping tale of life and death. Ultimately death though, after the hero of the story (Sehyoon) came and killed it. 

Hey, that was an upside to the cat. No live mosquitoes in the apartment. Unless it was bad at hunting. Or afraid of bugs.

Sehyoon returns with the tray of chicken and curly fries. It was a rather unhealthy meal if Donghun really thought about it, but he didn’t really care right now. Byeongkwan seemed more than happy at the sight of the curly fries, plucking a few from their dish as he let out small complaints about how hot they were.

They mainly eat in peace for the first few minutes, conversation forgotten. They’re more keen on filling their stomachs first and talking later. It isn’t until they’ve all had their first or second piece of chicken that Donghun decides to speak up.

“So I met my roommate today.” He says, eyes trained on the tray in front of him.

“Oh no, how bad is he?” Byeongkwan asks, grabbing a napkin to wipe his hands off. “Did he like..insult your or something? Is he a rich kid?”

“We’re all rich kids.” Sehyoon chides lightly. “Some are just richer than others.”

“Alright.” The younger says, scrunching his face. “Is he richer than you? Is he mean?”

“He didn’t insult me and, well, I don’t know how rich he is. Rich enough, I guess. He came in with two suitcases, two duffel bags and a backpack. All of it was designer. I think the backpack was Valextra. That was all that he showed up with. That’s it. No boxes or anything.”

“Well that sounds pretty standard, honestly. I mean, I’m pretty sure Yugyeom has a few Valextra backpacks laying around.” Byeongkwan shrugs. “So he didn’t insult your and he probably comes from a mega rich family. Does he have bad manners, then?”

“No, that’s just it. He’s perfectly nice! Humble, even.” Donghun groans moving to grab his cup to avoid slamming his hand on the table. "He immediately introduced himself. He insisted that he didn’t need help moving his stuff and that he could do it all on his own.”

“Then what’s the problem then -” Byeongkwan starts, voice fading as Donghun snaps his fingers and points at him.

“That’s exactly it! There shouldn’t have been any problem!” He says in distress. “But the smaller of the two duffel bags was a pet carrier and one minute we go from ‘alright this could be decent’ to him chasing after a cat that snuck its way into the kitchen!”

Sehyoon and Byeongkwan stay quiet, sharing glances with each other.

“Is that not problematic to you guys?” Donghun asks exasperatedly. “It’s against the rules to have a pet and you guys don’t seem to find it at least a bit troublesome?”

“No?” Both of them echo quietly.

Sehyoon clears his throat as bewilderment flashes across Donghun’s face.

“I mean, I guess I can see why it’s annoying. But it’s not like it’s your pet. It’s his problem that he’ll have to deal with if it gets caught.” Sehyoon says, picking at the piece of chicken in his hands. “He sounds great in every other aspect -”

“And it’s practically a free pet for you!” Byeongkwan exclaims. “I’d give anything to have pet on campus. Besides, you work at a pet store. This is practically just bringing your work home with you!”

“Maybe I don’t want my work to come home with me. I can already imagine this guy asking me to feed his cat because of his schedule or because he’ll be out partying too much to come home and feed it the slop it needs to live. I can get in trouble for housing the cat too, you know. Guilt by association, ever heard of that?” 

“Don’t you think that you’re overthinking it just a bit Donghun?” Sehyoon asks, frowning a bit. “You sound like you’re ready to put a guy on trial for bringing his cat with him.”

“Maybe I am. I just don’t want to run the risk of losing my apartment all because some rich kid decided to bring his beloved cat with him.” Donghun snaps. “If I give him any wiggle room he’ll walk all over me and make me take care of his damned beast.”

“And you know that how?” It’s Byeongkwan that chips in this time.

At that Donghun deflates a bit. Comes back to reality. How did he know that? He didn’t. But he can connect dots, piece things together. Sure, it may not have happened yet, but it will.

But he doesn’t have an answer for Byeongkwan. So he just shrugs.

“Exactly.” Byeongkwan says. “You don’t have any evidence to support that he’ll do that. Just...give the guy a chance. He’s a transfer student - do you think he wants to get on his roommate's bad side?”

“Well no, I guess not -”

“There. You can be annoyed by the cat but don’t burn the owner at the stake. You barely know him. Hell, would you be acting any different if you knew the cat was coming?”

“Maybe?” Donghun says, but it comes out more as a question than anything. When did Byeongkwan get this wise? Literally just yesterday he was picking on Donghun for buying a magnetic whiteboard.

“Well he had no way to contact you about the fact that he was smuggling in a live animal. Is it against the rules? Yes. Is he aware of this? Definitely. He probably did this at his old school too. Yet here he is. I bet you anything that our university would refuse to accept someone who got caught with a cat in their dorm. So he probably knows how to hide it.” Byeongkwan reasons.

Donghun hates to admit that he’s got a point.

“I’ll...consider giving him a chance, then.” Donghun mumbles, scuffing his feet against the floor. There's a heavy emphasis on 'consider' because the idea of being okay with breaking such a big rule is not one he likes in the slightest.

“Good.” Sehyoon says, popping back into the exchange. “You know I love you Donghun, but your mind runs away from you sometimes. It’s alright to be annoyed or mad about it but automatically assuming that the guy will walk all over you does seem a bit….extreme.” He concludes, shrugging his shoulders.

Donghun frowns. Maybe they’re right. 

They finish their meal and move onto more light-hearted conversations. He can be mad at Junhee. Not mean to him.

Donghun ends up driving them back to the campus just as the sun is setting. By the time he’s dropped Sehyoon and Byeongkwan off at the dorms and heads back to the apartments, the sky is devoid of any blue hue. Now it’s pretty pinks and purples and fiery oranges. In any other situation, he would stop to stare it. Soak it all in and try to think of some cheesy lyrics that he could give to Sehyoon.

However this time around he’d rather get inside and sleep instead.

Despite all the anger he had felt earlier, he’s still excited to curl up in his bed tonight. The ‘new apartment’ feeling hasn’t quite worn off yet. The main floor is quiet and empty as he makes his way into the elevator. He knows that the place will fill up more as more people move in, but he kinda likes it like this.

Getting back to his apartment sends an unpleasant chill down his spine. He knows that his roommate is lurking in there somewhere, along with that beast of a cat. That puts him in a sour enough mood to frown as he nudges open the door and slips off his shoes at the entrance.

The television is on despite no one being in the living room, but the quiet clinking of dishes lets him know where his roommate is. When he squints straight ahead, he can see the cat scarfing down whatever dinner it’s having next to the heating and air conditioning unit. Donghun manages to barely repress a sigh. 

Junhee seems to notice his return, popping into view in the archway of the kitchen. 

“Oh, hello!” Junhee says pleasantly, if not a bit shyly as he scrubs a glass dry. “I made food if you’re hungry.”

“I already ate.” Donghun says shortly.

“Oh.” Junhee’s face falls slightly, but quickly replaces it with smile. If Donghun blinked, he would’ve missed it. “I’ll just put the leftovers in the fridge, then.”

“Yeah. You do that.” He grumbles, shooting another glance towards the cat. “It better not start smelling like cat food in the apartment.”

“Uh, actually -” The other pauses. “I make her food by hand in large quantities because -”

“Of course you do.” He says with a huff. “Just keep it away from our food.”

“It’s not gonna contaminate anything, it's all perfectly safe and edible -”

“I don’t care, alright? Keep it away from the human food in the fridge.” Donghun says, voice stern. God, why did he feel like he was scolding a child?

Out of the corner of Donghun’s eye, he can see Junhee’s narrow gaze directed at him, lips pulled into a tight line.

“Yeah, of course. I’ll move it.” Junhee says, the peppiness sounding artificial and forced. 

Part of Donghun feels bad. But the feeling is mostly overrun by some stupid feeling that he just won a battle. Ran a marathon. Beat the final boss of a game. He remembers how he said that he would give Junhee a chance. This is his chance. He should be thankful that he isn’t reporting him right this instant. His mind supplies the statement that he’s being a tad mean, but he doesn’t think he is. He’s not being mean to Junhee, but he is mad at Junhee. There’s a difference. This is him being mad.

So he glides past Junhee without another word, ignores the bleeding feeling of tension that starts to invade the apartment. It’s not his fault if Junhee gets pissy over a rather fair rule that he’s set. 

Despite it being early in the evening, he decides that it would be best to wash up and go to bed early. It’s better that way. He rummages around the bedroom for his pajamas, slinging them over his shoulder and trudging into the bathroom. He catches sight of the litter box tucked away in the corner furthest from the shower. There’s a little box next to it, resembling a trash can. Ah, a litter locker. At least the place won’t smell like cat poop. The sight of those two items just bugs him even more.

Donghun takes his shower in absolute silence, save for the spray of the water.

It’s nearly seven at night when he’s out of the shower and brushing through his hair, pajamas still clinging to his slight damp skin. In most cases it would annoy him. Right now, however, it brings him an odd comfort. 

By the sounds of it, Junhee is still wandering around in the front of the apartment as Donghun walks to their bedroom. Donghun’s displeased to see the cat sprawled out happily on Junhee’s bed - but at least it - she - whatever, isn’t on his bed. That would make the night a lot worse.

Instead he can peacefully recline onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling as he fusses his way under the covers.

He doesn’t even realize that he’s drifted off until he wakes up to a dark room, the only light glowing from across the room. Junhee’s face and neck are illuminated by the bright white glow, his eyebrows furrowed and eyes half closed as he scrolls through his phone. Donghun wants to know what time it is - perhaps scold Junhee that he’s up too late. That sleep is important, especially when school is starting so soon but looking at the other guy makes his stomach stir with a mix of guilt and anger.

Donghun closes his eyes again, forcing himself to go back to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to apologize for this chapter coming out later than usual;; I've had a rough couple of weeks and it was hard to sit down and consecutively type a bunch of words in one sitting. I had to force myself to finish it because I refused to let myself stay in a slump for so long.
> 
> Chapter is a bit shorter than I wanted it to be, but I also didn't to keep anyone reading any longer than I already have. I really do hope that I'll get the next chapter out at a decent time and not take so long again. 
> 
> (I promise that Donghun will be a nice person at some point ajgfjdfjkgjfkd he's just a little stubborn and over analyzing, is all. I can speak from experience since I have a few friends that act like how I wrote Donghun in the fic. They're all well and good, it's just that they tend to over analyze every encounter they have with a new person and it can....really warp their opinions if they don't like what they see.)
> 
> As always, any typos are my own and I hope you enjoy reading.

Things are not going well for Donghun.

To start, he’s half asleep at work. Which is fine since he doesn’t have a lot to do at a pet store - but he can’t keep yawning (or suppressing yawns) while he’s helping customers. His lunch break wasn’t even long enough to eat a proper lunch let alone take a nap. He’s running on three hours of sleep and four hours of listening to the sound of birds chirping. Real birds would’ve been nice.

But no. That’s not what he got. 

Instead he got his stupid ass roommate falling asleep to bird noises. He wonders if Junhee is just doing this to spite him.

The guy wears headphones when listening to it - but the shit is so loud that Donghun can hear it on his side. Reasonably he could ask Junhee to turn it down. The problem is that he'll have to talk to Junhee, which he isn’t interested in doing.

Donghun made it a personal rule to talk to Junhee as little as possible. And for the last two weeks it has worked pretty well. Sehyoon and Byeongkwan aren't too keen on his rule. Which is dumb because they said that he should be nice to him.

And in order to be nice, he has to avoid arguments. To avoid arguments, he shouldn't talk to Junhee. It made sense in his head.

“You look exhausted.” Someone comments idly. It startles Donghun enough to lurch his head up from its hanging position. Without even thinking about it, his back straightens up and he gets ready to get scolded.

Then his eyes focus a little bit and a young, fresh face stares at him.

“Oh, Yuchan.”

“I told you that you can call me Chan.” Chan pouts, scrunching his face. “Everyone calls me Chan - even Jason calls me Chan.”

“And I call Jason Byeongkwan because that is what he introduced himself as. You introduced yourself as Yuchan, so I'm used to calling you that.” Donghun says, shaking his head.

Besides, he hardly knows Yuchan. Or Chan. Whatever he's supposed to call him. They had met only a handful of times. The first time was a little over five months ago when Byeongkwan had brought over this bubbly high school senior to a game night in the dorm lounge.

He could see why Byeongkwan invited him right from the start. The kid was social as hell, quickly making the rounds and talking to everyone there. He was just as friendly and peppy when he had introduced himself to Donghun.

They had talked about comics for a good portion of the night. 

Still, that doesn't mean he knows him well. Actually, he doesn’t know much about Yuchan at all. All he knows is that he’s Byeongkwan’s friend and that he likes obscure comic books that not even Donghun has heard of. He’s bright and shiny and basically Byeongkwan 2.0.

Putting Byeongkwan and Yuchan in the same room is basically like a supernova personified. However, when he glances around, Byeongkwan is nowhere to be found. Huh.

“So, what are you doing here?” Donghun asks curiously, leaning forward on the counter with his hands folded.

“Oh, you know! Just came to visit. I figured I’d let you know that I got accepted into a university!” Yuchan says ecstatically.

Donghun rakes his brain to try and remember if they ever discussed the other’s university options before. He feels like they have, but he can’t remember anything about it. Yuchan’s looking at him excitedly, energy buzzing around him enough to make Donghun feel giddy.

“Oh really? What school?” 

“Yours, silly! They apparently liked what they saw on my application.” Yuchan grins brightly, leaving Donghun to find himself sharing the same grin.

“That’s great! What’re you majoring in?”

“I don’t know yet, there’s so much I wanna try!” Chan says with a giggle. “What matters is that I got in, right?”

“Definitely!” Donghun says with a nod. “If you need any help, I’ll be around on campus. Actually, we can exchange numbers, I guess. Just in case you need anything.”

“Really?”

“Sure, why not? I mean - I expect to see you more often now, since you’re friends with Byeongkwan.” Donghun says, digging his phone out of his pocket.

Honestly, he never expected to trade numbers with Yuchan - but he needs friends. Since the whole roommate thing isn’t panning out to well, he’ll gladly take in Yuchan. They’ll have an even number then. There could be mutual bullying without him getting ganged up on for once.

Unless all three of them gang up on him. 

Eh, he’ll convince someone onto his side somehow. 

There’s a childlike wonderment in Yuchan’s eyes as he puts in his number on Donghun’s phone. He babbles on about how Donghun is his first college companion - Byeongkwan didn’t count since they were friends in high school. Sehyoon didn’t count either because they two never shared more than a handful of words with each other. So Donghun was his first. It may seem silly, but Donghun takes pride in it.

The notion takes a rather shitty day and turns it into a brighter one. 

Yuchan hands back his phone shortly afterwards, paranoid that he’s put the wrong number in. They talk for a bit afterwards, discussing Yuchan’s dorming situation and the overall rules of sharing a dorm. Be polite. Be respectful. Be ready to listen. 

Huh, if only he was able to take his own advice. He pushes that thought to the recesses of his mind. Junhee deserves the treatment that he’s getting. In a way. Just a bit.

Not really, his mind whispers. 

The little voice in his head says that he’s acting just like the people that used to pick on him. Which is - well. Ridiculous. Perhaps true. But ridiculous. It’s not something he wants to admit to himself just yet. Because he hasn’t done anything.

He’s mad at Junhee. He’s not mean to Junhee. He’ll recite that over and over until everyone understands that. 

“Are you okay Donghun?”

“Hm? What?” He asks, pulling himself from his thoughts.

“You just look out of it. That’s all.” Yuchan says, tilting his head. “You should go home and sleep once you’re off your shift.”

“I - I’m fine. Just a bit tired. I plan to take a nap when I get back to my apartment.” He responds with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “Just dealing with some roommate problems.”

“Oh.” Yuchan says, shaking his head seriously. “I understand that. My roommate likes to leave chip dust everywhere. We’ve only lived together for three days and I already found crushed potato chips in the kitchen.”

Donghun laughs softly at that. He would take chip dust over cat fur. Or just chip dust over the whole general existence of Park Junhee.

Their chattering fills the silence of the store for a few more minutes before Yuchan bows and excuses himself with a promise of seeing him next week when classes start. 

He can't help but eye Yuchan as he leaves. Maybe he would be able to tolerate Junhee better than Donghun does. Or maybe he would be a better roommate than Junhee. Maybe, just maybe, he can convince Junhee and Yuchan to switch out. That would be nice. 

He’s not sure if Yuchan and Junhee would click well, though. In his opinion, Yuchan is far too bright to get dragged down by anyone who seems to have no manners. After a week with Junhee, he has come to the conclusion that Junhee lacks quite a few.

He’s great at being respectful and clean. Yet he lacks the common sense - like talking when Donghun is trying to make it obvious that he doesn’t want anything to do with him. Or just being overly friendly, if that can be considered a lack of manners. Junhee tries to do too much for him. It makes it look like he’s trying to impress him.

Perhaps he is. 

There is no doubt in Donghun’s mind that Junhee is absolutely trying to butter him up and make him warm up to that damn cat of his. Donghun will never openly admit how cute the cat is (because it is cute as shit). At least, he won’t admit it around Junhee. He is not giving Junhee an inch of ground to work with.

Give an inch and they’ll take a mile. That’s what his mom and dad told him. Don’t let anyone walk over you, Donghun. You’re too nice to everyone, Donghun. Guard yourself, Donghun.

Take everything with a grain of salt, Donghun.

(Nothing is as it seems.)

He lives by those philosophies, all convoluted together in some giant pot in his head. Morals sliced and fitted with others one that created who he was as a person. No one’s allow to push themselves into his life unless he wants them too. He’s nice but he’s guarded. Perhaps a bit obsessively guarded, but people are scary these days.

Sometimes, it’s hard to imagine that he was once a kid that would run off with the hoard of children in his old neighborhood. His heels would kick up the dust of the fields as they played Red Light Green Light or freeze tag or he’d get frustrated with a match of marco polo (both inside pools and out). 

Now he’s here, mentally cursing out a roommate that apparently loves nature sounds more than he loves his roommates sanity. Then again, Junhee probably never had to care about a roommate before. He probably paid off his old school to get away from it. Kids here do it, so why wouldn’t Junhee do the same?

God, could he have gotten a more infuriating roommate?

Yes, his brain supplies. He could’ve. He should be thankful for what he has. Hard to be thankful for something (someone) that is keeping him up at night, though. 

Work proceeds to crawl along at a snail's pace. His afternoon shift is always slow on the weekdays because it syncs up so well with other businesses working hours. It’s the one shift that he hopes he can keep with his class schedule.

Speaking of schedule, he should really check his email. He put in a request for all the classes he wanted about six days ago - surely they’ll have answered with his schedule by now. 

God, please let him keep the afternoon shift. It’s peaceful and boring and everything a college student wants in a job - an easy break. Of course he’ll change his schedule if he absolutely has too, but he’d rather avoid it.

He hopes his schedule is busy this year - both in school and in work. He’s suddenly interested in spending as little time at the apartment as possible. 

His shift finally comes to an end at precisely three thirty in the afternoon, a staggering forty minutes since Yuchan had departed. In that time, he had only rang up three customers. Easy money. Normally he would be excited to clock out, especially with the pleasant reminder of his paycheck showing up next week; now it’s just a thing he dreads.

Maybe Sehyoon and Byeongkwan would let him crash at their dorm for an hour or two - no. No they wouldn’t. They actually want him to make friends with Junhee. 

Ugh.

He begrudgingly heads back to the apartment. The scene laid out in front of him when he gets to the room is starting to become a common one. 

Junhee is sitting on the couch, television playing quietly as Latte makes herself comfortable on the others lap. The other seems completely relaxed, stroking down Latte’s back and tilting his head in Donghun’s direction. He opens his mouth a few times, hesitation evident.

Finally Junhee finds his voice. 

“Did you have a good day at work?” He asks - an attempt at a conversation. Apparently, Junhee hasn’t figured out that Donghun really, really doesn’t want to talk to him.

Donghun lets out a quiet huff.

“It was fine.” He says, settling on a monotone voice. It’s not like he’s blocking off an attempt at a conversation, but he hopes it’s clear that he doesn’t want to have one.

“That’s good!” Junhee says, perking up a bit. For fucks sake. “Where do you work again?”

“I never told you.”

“Oh -” Junhee pauses, the grin that was blooming on his face faltering a bit. “ - that’s true. Well, where do you work, then?”

“I don’t see the need to tell you.” Donghun says flatly, kicking off his shoes. “Why is it important for you to know?”

“It’s not important! I just...I dunno. We should get to know more about each other, yeah?” Junhee asks, eyes searching Donghun for - something. Perhaps a sliver of niceness. 

“Nah, I don’t want to get to know you.” Donghun replies breezily, almost feeling bad for the way Junhee’s smile falls and stays gone. “I’m going to take a nap. Don’t wake me up. Make sure the beast doesn’t leave fur on the couch.”

With that, he’s done with their conversation and walking down the hallway. He’s pretty sure he hears something along the lines of ‘she isn’t a beast’, but he doesn’t care enough to turn back and clarify what Junhee said. He only feels truly at peace in his own apartment when he’s sprawled out on the bed, lulling himself to sleep in the silence of the room.

Junhee, thankfully, doesn’t do anything to disturb him. 

When he exits the bedroom and stalks off to the kitchen later, he finds Junhee there. The other makes no move to talk to him though, so they share the kitchen with an awkward and looming silence. He can’t lie and say that he’s not mildly interested in watching Junhee at the moment - the other seems to be setting something up -

Wait.

Donghun squints to get a better look, eyebrows quirking up. Did Junhee….buy them a coffee maker?

“Is that what I think it is?” He asks, shattering the silence. Junhee startles at it, tensing up before snapping his head over to look at Donghun.

“I - yeah.” Junhee says, voice low. “I uh, figured, with classes starting next week that we’d need this. Especially you, yeah? You got a lot of things to do senior year, I assume.”

It’s...a nice gesture. A really nice gesture. Donghun wants to say it out loud, for once agree and be pleasant to Junhee. But his mind twists his words and his view, causes him to overthink everything. This just has to be a ploy, right? The ulterior motive is to get Donghun to like him. Otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten the coffee maker. Hell, Junhee looks rich enough to just buy out a cafe if just his luggage is anything to go by. Why would Junhee give a damn?

“You’re just trying to butter me up.” Is what Donghun ends up saying. He mentally winces at his own words; chanting a mantra of ‘no’ over and over again. That isn’t what he meant - that’s what he was thinking but he didn’t want to say it. He wanted to say thank you or how thoughtful or maybe some off hand remark about how he’ll probably drown himself in a cup of coffee -

But Junhee’s already shooting a glance (a glare, Donghun’s mind whines) at him. There’s a mumble, low and quiet from the other man.

“I mean -” Donghun tries to correct, but it’s already too late.

“Of course. Of course I’m trying to butter you up. God forbid I actually just try to do shit for someone without them thinking I have an ulterior motive in mind, right? Silly me.” Junhee spits out, voice still strangely stable and calm as he puts the coffee pot into the machine. “Foolish damn Junhee trying to make things tolerable between roommates.”

“Oh shut it, it’s not like you would be doing this if you didn’t have a cat that I was annoyed by.”

“Don’t bring Latte into this.”

“Why shouldn’t I? She started all this shit.” Donghun says haughtily. “Actually, no, you did. You started it.”

“I did not start it.” Junhee huffs, pouting slightly.

“You fucking did! You brought in a cat and for the last few weeks you’ve been obviously trying to get on my good side.” Donghun responds.

“I’m not going to deal with this right now. I’m not getting into an argument so early in the year.” Junhee says, turning on his heel and making his exit from the kitchen. “Don’t bother using the coffee pot if you’re just going to bitch about it.”

Donghun opens his mouth to shoot out a reply, but Junhee’s already gone. In a matter of seconds the bedroom door is slamming and Donghun’s just made this all much messier, hasn’t he? It’s not his fault - he had good intentions. His brain just fucked everything up.

And Junhee’s acting like a damn drama mongering teenager over a coffee pot. Truly a rich kid tactic. What kind of pathetic attempt at a guilt trip was that? 

He hears the soft footfalls and casts his glance down. Latte wanders into the kitchen and out the exit connecting to the hallway.

“Your owner likes to stir shit up, doesn’t he?” He mutters in her direction, the complaint ultimately falling on deaf ears.

Conversation becomes non-existent for the rest of the day after that. Junhee doesn’t even look at him. Funny how all it took was to insinuate something over a coffee pot. 

Somehow, Donghun is relieved. Now he can tell Sehyoon that he tried at least. Junhee just refused to reciprocate. Yeah. That’s what he’ll say. Of course Sehyoon will be disappointed, but he’ll get over it. It just wasn’t meant to work out between Donghun and Junhee. 

Though, he can’t help but glance at Junhee when they’re both settling down for the night in their beds. Junhee’s back is too him, lying facing the window with his phone screen set on the brightest setting. It practically illuminates the room despite every other light source being off. He can tell that at least one of Junhee’s earbuds is in. He finds himself reliving the last few days of near sleepless nights.

He opens his mouth to make a complain but closes it. Rolls over and faces the wall. Donghun falls asleep with the hope that he won’t get woken up by crickets or some dumb shit like that.

(Spoiler alert: he does.)

This routine becomes the norm in the apartment. Junhee isn’t trying to talk to him that often - except offering a small ‘sorry’ a few days after the coffee pot incident. Donghun almost apologized for it too. For saying the wrong thing, for being a prick. 

Instead he just didn’t answer Junhee. Now they don’t talk at all.

It finally rolls around to where there are two days left before they officially start school. Donghun couldn’t be more excited - he’ll finally have a constant reason to be out of the apartment, especially when the radio shows start up. Then he’ll be away from Junhee’s late night nature noises that are driving him up the wall. Hell, maybe he could rant about those for a bit on the first episode. People hardly listen to the first episodes, anyway.

For once, he’s the one at the apartment and Junhee is the one out of the house. Normally he’d be ecstatic about it. However, he’s been stuck having a staring competition with a cat for the last half an hour. Latte sits on the other side of the couch, far away enough for it to be unreasonable and excessive to kick her off, but close enough to make her presence aware.

She’s not hungry, Junhee fed her before he left this morning. She’s just staring at him like he’s supposed to do something for her. With his roommate gone, he can safely say whatever the hell he wants to the cat.

“Go away. You’re creeping me out.” He says, trying to shoo her away but to no avail. If anything Latte spites him by settling down and making herself comfortable on the other side of the couch. He stretches out his leg to poke at her, hoping to spook her off. Still nothing.

He grumbles, tucking his legs in closer to him and practically curling up on the couch. He can’t even sprawl out on his own couch because of the beast. How depressing.

Donghun accepts his uncomfortable fate in favor of watching the rerun of a drama he missed the prior night. It’s one of the few that he, Sehyoon and Byeongkwan are all invested in. They had managed to catch the episode last night and Donghun had to all but beg them not to spoil anything until he got to see the rerun of it right now.

It’s good that Junhee’s out. There’s something secretive about Donghun watching dramas. He just doesn’t like it when people know that he watches them. 

(Maybe it’s because one of his family members made a joke about how stupid dramas were.)

Still, he’s happy that he has two people he can scream about the plot to after he sees it.

As time ticks by, the apartment is silent aside from the dramatic instrumental at the current scene. The episode is only half way through but Donghun is already feeling sad at the thought that it was ending soon. He even feels a weight on his chest about it.

He pauses and then glances down at his chest. Sure enough, there is a weight on his chest. Not out of emotions, though. Instead, it was because of a furball.

A sleeping furball. Latte. 

His first instinct is to shove her off - but he refrains. Instead he brings one hand up, gently scratching her head. She’s cute in most cases, Donghun will begrudgingly admit that. Yet she seemed especially adorable here.

“You just wanted to someone to lay on since Junhee isn’t here, huh?” He whispers softly, gently smoothing down her fur. After a moment of silence, he finds himself speaking again. “I don’t think your owner likes me very much.”

What was he expecting? Her to wake up and confirm his suspicions? 

“Let's keep this little cuddle session between us, alright? God forbid Junhee starts to think that I like having you around.” He says, grimacing at the thought. Latte does nothing more but take a deep breath and flick her tail a bit before settling back down. Maybe that was her way of replying to him.

Donghun decides to stop bugging her, instead settling his hand on her back lightly as he returns his focus to the television.

But any peace he was planning to have remains short lived. The sound of the door unlocking startles him, which startles Latte. The cat stretches out leisurely before standing up, fur puffed up slightly as she moves to leap off of Donghun and onto the floor.

The door swings open as Donghun is brushing any cat fur off of his chest. He faintly hears the sound of something dragging and he can’t help but sit up to get a better view. The preview for the next episode of the drama is just starting to play as Junhee drags a large yet thin box into their apartment.

Well, now he’s even more confused.

“Uh, Junhee.” He says, voice gentle in a way that it hasn’t been since he first met the other. “What is -”

“A table.” Junhee supplies simply, seemingly torn between being shocked and disinterested in the fact that Donghun’s actually talking to him. “We need a proper place to eat other than the couch.”

“The couch is just fine.”

“Not if one of us spills something on it.” Junhee says, a twinge of annoyance evident in his voice. It seems to melt away when he casts a glance over to the television, which was now rolling the credits. “You watch this too?”

“No.” Donghun says quickly. “Dramas are stupid. They make good background noise for naps, though.” He says, cringing internally at himself. Wasn’t he just reminiscing on how his relatives would say that to him? The way Junhee worded it sounded like he was into the show too - why did Donghun just flat out deny that he watched it?

Junhee frowns a bit, shrugging. He doesn’t say anything else about it, though. Instead he puts his focus back on the box and sets it on it's side.

“Do you want to help me build this?” Junhee finally asks lightly. His voice wavers slightly as if he already knows the answer.

“No. I didn't ask for you to buy a table, so why would I help out?” Donghun quips, irritation leaking into his voice quicker than he’d really like it too. He wants to keep a conversation civil for once. It would be better than starting arguments that burn themselves out. While it's nice not settling an argument, he knows that the arguments just build on each other. 

It’d be nice to defuse it with a good conversation.

“Well...I just figured that it’d be like...bonding time?” Junhee says, statement dropping into a question by the end of it. 

Donghun can't help but look at him in vague disbelief. Junhee however looks completely serious about his idea. The whole situation is so damn amusing that he can't help but let out a laugh. 

“You're serious? You want me to build furniture - an annoying task within itself - with you?” Donghun asks, voice lilting into another chuckle. “Tell me, are you that keen on being my friend when I've made it clear that I don't wanna deal with you?”

“I just thought -”

“Why can’t we just settle for the fact that we’re not meant to like each other? Stop trying to suck up to me.”

“I'm not trying to suck up to you -”

“Bullshit.” Donghun says. “First it was making me leftovers despite me never eating them. Then it was the coffee pot. Now it's a table for whatever damn reason. Whatcha gonna do next, just slip money under my pillow?”

Junhee's quiet, calculating stare lands on him and he feels a chill run down his spine. Maybe he's gone too far? No, he's definitely gone too far. He knows that he's gone too far - known it for awhile, really. 

Donghun opens his mouth and closes it again, feels the telltale sign of panic welling up in his throat. He doesn't like it when people are mad at him. He likes it even less when it's his fault. He's trying to think fast, perhaps save whatever tattered (but civil) conversation they were having just a few minutes ago.

“Do you just not understand what it's like to have a fucking roommate?” Junhee says quietly, upper lip twitching. “Like my god, if I didn't know any better, I'd assume that your some social hermit or something. I don't give a crap if you hate me but don't make life miserable by being so bitter all the damn time.”

“I'm not bitter -”

“I'm not bitter!” Junhee mocks in a whining tone. “So what if I was trying to suck up to you - I'll admit that I was the first few days. That's a natural thing to do when you -” He pauses just then, voice dropping to a lower tone as if he were afraid of eavesdroppers. “- when you do something you're not supposed to do. Don't tell me that you wouldn't do the same if you brought in something that wasn't allowed.”

Donghun feels any argument he had shrink a bit. It's true, he'd most certainly act the same way.

“But I got over it because guess what? I figured you would too. If you were allergic, I'd understand and try to find someone who wasn’t. If a cat had somehow smothered your grandma to death in her sleep, I'd switch roommates with someone who didn't have a tragic ass story. But no, you've given me no reason as to why you hate the cat so much. I don't give a damn if you hate me, but don't drag her into shit!”

“That's rich coming from the guy that brought her into the apartment.” Donghun snaps. “You should've known that you would have gotten a roommate like me.”

“How am I supposed to know that? I had never even known you existed until I moved in.” Junhee seethes. “I'm just trying to be a good roommate - I wasn't a great one back at my old school, I wanted to redeem myself. And you're just this stubborn ass person who won't give me a chance.”

“Oh boohoo.” Donghun says pitifully, jutting out his lower lip. “Poor Junhee just wants to be a better roommate, that's why he brought a cat into the apartment. God, do you even realize how stupid your own excuses sound?”

“They're not excuses!” Junhee defends, frowning. 

“They most certainly are. I won't accept any excuses in this apartment. You want to be a better roommate? Start using some damn common sense about the shit you do.”

“You wouldn't be like this if Latte wasn't around.” Junhee says, fight leaving his voice as his shoulders sag.

“You're right. I wouldn't be like this if you didn't break the biggest rule in the booklet.” Donghun sing songs, pushing himself off of the couch. “Now have fun with your stupid fucking table.” He says with a smirk, starting off towards their room.

“Have fun denying that you're a hypocrite, I guess.” Junhee spits back.

Donghun pauses in his tracks.

“I'm not a hypocrite.”

“You are.”

“I'm not.” Donghun repeats, suddenly feeling very exposed. Defenseless. He swears that this is something that he fought over with someone else before.

“You are and you don't wanna admit it because that means you’d have to admit that you've been an asshole.” Junhee says, but Donghun can barely hear him from the blood pounding in his ears, face flushing in some weird form of anger.

“I'm not a hypocrite and I'm not an asshole!” Donghun snarls, whirling around on his heels to face Junhee. “I'm so, so sorry that the little rich junior isn't going to get his way in this apartment! Forgive me for being such a hypocrite - such a dumb fool! Of course I'll let you break the rules, hell, you probably bought your way into this school, right? I shouldn't be worried about any repercussions you'll have when that stupid furball gets ratted out, right?”

Junhee eyes squint in his general direction. His chest puffs up a bit, as if he were about to argue back - but he ends up just squatting down by the box and starting to open it.

“And learn how to finish an argument why don't you? Just because you shut up doesn't mean you win.” Donghun grumbles, turning his back and marching to their room, slamming the door behind him.

(Junhee stays out in the living room the rest of the day. He doesn't even come into sleep that night. Donghun is afraid of a second confrontation - so he avoids the kitchen and living room at all costs. He falls asleep with the words ‘you're a hypocrite’ bouncing around in his head, followed along with the sinking realization that he may have overreacted just a tad. Donghun just can't help but feel that everything is just a tad fucked up right now.)

He doesn't want to admit to his faults the next day, so he bounces out of the apartment as soon as it sounds like Junhee has slipped into the bathroom to shower. 

Donghun supposes that he can get some comfort and reassurance from Sehyoon. Just Sehyoon. Byeongkwan would just stress him out more in this situation.

He's just finishing explaining the whole situation to Sehyoon, who has been nursing his coffee quietly as Donghun lays it all out on the table. He hopes that Sehyoon will see his side of everything - he could always count on Sehyoon’s advice before. Besides, Sehyoon is the one that suggested that he gave Junhee a chance.

And to be fair, he did. He let Junhee try to win him over. Donghun can see through him though, he knows what Junhee was doing -

“I think you’re utterly stupid.” Sehyoon settles on, placing his coffee down onto the table in front of him. It’s jarring for Donghun, to say the least. “Not stupid. A fucking dumbass.”

“Wait, what?” Donghun squawks, flushing in embarrassment when a few people around them turn to look at him curiously. “How am I the dumbass when he’s -”

“You’re over analyzing shit. Again.” Sehyoon sighs out. “You do this every time you meet someone new. You thought I was trying to befriend you as a joke. You thought Byeongkwan was actually just trying to take me away from you.”

“I-” He says, pausing and pursing his lips. “I’ll admit to those two occurrences. But - but I didn’t do anything like that when Yuchan came around.”

“The first time he had lunch with us you kept texting me, when I was right next to you, that he was going to skip out on paying his fair share.”

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

“Well - well he was a high schooler! Those kids are brutal, you know?” Donghun defends helplessly, flicking a balled up straw wrapper away from himself. 

“I’m aware. I’m also aware that people grow up and change.” Sehyoon says, shrugging. “I’m in no means condoning what your roommate did or said but it could’ve been a lot worse. As much as it hurts to say it, you are kinda acting like a hypocrite, and I think that you know that but don’t wanna admit it.” 

Damn Sehyoon. Donghun just scrunches his face up and glares down at the table.

“So what if I’m hypocritical? Don’t you think I deserve a chance to be a little shit?” Donghun finally asks, pouting down at the table. He doesn’t want to look at Sehyoon - he doesn’t want to see the reaction because he already has a feeling that he knows what’s coming.

“Everyone deserves to act out to some extent, Donghun. It’s just that...I dunno. You always say that you oughta give a person a chance -” Sehyoon starts to explain. Donghun furrows his brows and hoists his head up.

“And I did!”

“But it wasn’t that big of a chance, now was it? It’s only been what, two weeks? Maybe three? You’ve practically blocked him out every time he tried to be civil with you and you only reacted when he snapped back. I don’t get why or how he’s riled you up so much.” The other sighs, tapping his fingers along his coffee cup. “What’s the point of giving him a chance if you’re going to over analyze everything he does?” The question has some solid reasoning, despite Donghun's resistance to agree with it. In fact, he's sure that he's given Junhee a bigger chance then what Sehyoon's making it out to be.

“If I give him an inch, he’ll take a mile.” Donghun says sheepishly, biting at the inside of his lip. “Won’t he?”

“I don’t know. You don’t know either. That’s why I think you’re being a dumbass.” 

“Well excuse me for being wary of some rich ass underclassmen who decides that breaking the rules before school even starts is a good idea.” Donghun spits sourly, automatically deflating when Sehyoon quirks an eyebrow at him.

It’s silent for a moment between them, but it might as well have felt like an eternity.

“It doesn’t hurt to be wary, Donghun. It’s who you are as a person and I get that. But...he’s not the only one at fault here, is he?” Sehyoon concludes, questioning clear in his tone. They both know the answer, but Donghun just scoffs and looks at him for a moment before yanking his gaze away and staring out the cafe window. 

He doesn’t humor Sehyoon with an answer.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda hurried to finish this chapter a day or two early because I'm going to be at kcon for the next three days~
> 
> But surprise! Our two boys start to think things through a bit! (Especially Donghun)
> 
> I wanted to work Seyoon & a few of the others into this chapter but I couldn't get them in any way that I liked.

The world is against Donghun. That is one thing that he has decided. 

His college class is a nice size - enough seating for about twenty people. There’s a few familiar faces filing in. He recognizes Yoo Kihyun and Jung Taekwoon for starters. He wouldn’t go as far as to say that he’s friends with them, but he could probably tolerate doing a group project with them if that ends up happening. 

As the time for class gets closer, some final stragglers make it in. Everyone looks slightly exhausted at being awake so early (classes at seven in the morning can do that to you), but Donghun’s excited to finally be in school again. He’s already gotten his new work schedule from his boss. His schedule isn’t as full as he wishes it would be, but he’ll take what he can get at this point. 

One last handful of stragglers enter, most of them unknown to Donghun. Except for one person that he’d rather not see outside of the apartment.

Park Junhee.

Because of course, right?

How is he even in here? The class is one of the harder ones to get into. The class itself is called ‘Vocal Development’, generally aimed at the students who wish to try and get some form of singing as a future career. It was considered a hybrid class, however, since it also designated time to writing lyrics and working with composition majors.

Donghun had to take classes for this class since the second semester of his sophomore year. Even then he still had to get a recommendation from his professor.

So seeing Junhee walk in pissed him off just a bit.

Or a lot.

Donghun's sitting near the front of class and he's one hundred percent sure that Junhee has seen him; evidenced by the way that Junhee’s stride falters a bit. Donghun looks off to his side and sees an open seat. He flicks his eyes at Junhee, quirks his lips into a smirk and proceeds to place his laptop bag onto it.

Not today, motherfucker.

But if Junhee were planning to take that seat, he surely doesn’t show it. He whisks himself past Donghun’s seat, eyes flicking upwards to the back seats in the room. Donghun can’t help but feel like he just lost the battle. He and Junhee haven’t breathed so much as a word to each other since the argument. 

The talk with Sehyoon from yesterday still rings in his head.

_“He’s not the only one at fault here, is he?”_

Donghun glares down at the desk in front of him bitterly. Stupid Sehyoon and his logical reasoning. Donghun knows that he’s fucked this up just as much as Junhee has. It could be argued that he actually fucked it up a bit more than Junhee.

But god damn it, Donghun was stubborn and Junhee probably hasn’t been scolded a day in his life.

He’s just giving him some life lessons.

The more he thinks about Junhee being in this class, the more bitter he gets. This rich underclassmen just waltzed in like he’d been there all of his college career. Of course it’s not heard of for juniors to join a primarily senior populated class (hell, Donghun was one of those last year), but it just seems odd. 

Odd that this wealthy transfer student suddenly got the proper teacher recommendations not only to get into the school, but this particular class.

Hm, something smells like money and rich kid tears to Donghun.

“Good morning!” A cheery voice calls out, the dull clicking of heels ringing against the wooden floor. “I’m glad to see all these sleepy faces here - I was sure that a few would forget about school starting today.” 

There’s a few disgruntled murmurs as Donghun smiles a bit. 

“I’m Professor Yejin.” She says brightly, settling down a stack of paper on her desk before smoothing down her dress and stepping to stand in front of the front row of seats.

“Today will be a simple day, I’m going to tell you a bit about myself and then get to know a bit about you. We’ll also be going over the class syllabus and discuss our first assignment.” Yejin says, voice loud enough to carry all the way to the back. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

“As I said, I’m Professor Yejin. As you can tell by the time of this class, I’m a bit of an early bird. There’s something quite invigorating about the early morning, isn’t there? The chirping birds and crisp air do wonders for waking you up. Anyways, before I became a teacher here, I was a vocal coach. It wasn’t until six or so years ago that I decided to move on and teach the future generation of vocalists; you guys!” She says, holding her arms out to motion at everyone. “I got into being a vocal coach because singing always looked so interesting - and it’s even more interesting to work behind the scenes and help strengthen a voice. I’m curious, what made some of you interested in singing? Just say it out loud unless someone's talking, then raise your hand so we know who’s next.”

Her question poses a good challenge to Donghun - participation. It’s not that he doesn’t participate - well, okay, he doesn’t.

But no one else is speaking up, so he clears his throat.

“I want to be one because my mom was really into singing.” He says, propping his head up on his hands. He still sounds half asleep - which he is, he really is.

She nods enthusiastically, cooing about how cute it is. It makes his ears burn from embarrassment, but his comment manages to spur a few other students He listens intently to a few others. For some odd reason, he waits to hear Junhee’s voice - his reason. An explanation as to how or why he was in this class. Donghun knows what his voice sounds like. It would look bad if he didn’t.

But Junhee’s voice never comes. It just leads Donghun to be even more convinced that Junhee didn’t belong in the class. 

Professor Yejin ultimately moves away from the friendly chatter, guiding the conversation into the discussion of the syllabus. 

“You’ll all get a paper copy of this on your way out today. But I’ll give you the basics of it all. This class meets twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each class session will be around an hour and twenty to thirty minutes.” She says, clearing her throat. “I hope you are all aware that this is a two semester class, seeing as it is a hybrid class.” 

She stops, listening to the sleepy acknowledgments before nodding her head.

“Good! So this first semester will be more focused on the vocal aspect of the class. Assignments will include either recording a song cover and sending it to me through our classroom portal or singing it live. When we sing it live, it’ll likely take place in the auditorium. Any questions so far?” The professor asks, cocking an eyebrow and surveying the room.

Donghun can’t help but be excited about this all. He hasn’t had a proper reason to sing in months - and now his assignments will literally be him singing. God bless this class. God bless Yejin.

“The second semester will be more focused on lyric analyzation, writing lyrics and creating songs. The second semester will aim to prepare you to hopefully write your own music after you graduate.” She hums, face opening in a quiet gasp of realization. “Speaking of which, how many of you are seniors?” 

Donghun raises his hand slowly, casting a backwards glance to see if others were doing the same. Good, they were. If he had made himself look awkward on the first day of class, he doesn’t know if he would’ve returned. Yejin looks through the crowd and counts them all out, smile brightening.

“Oh my, twenty three of you are? It’s such a shame that this will be my only year to see you all - that’s the sad part of teaching such a requirement heavy course. The remaining seven must be juniors, correct?” She seems to receive a positive response to her question due to her excited nod. “Oh, you guys must’ve worked yourselves half to death to get into this class!”

Donghun acts like he’s covering a yawn to hide his frown. He can think of one particular junior who probably never worked a day in his life to get where he was now. 

Yejin pushes the conversation over to the first class assignment, perhaps a little too excitedly despite it only being 7:40 in the morning.

“As I said while discussing the syllabus, the assignments will either be live or recorded and sent to me online. For your first assignment, it’ll be live. I expect you to learn anywhere from a minute and a half to two minutes of a song. By Tuesday of next week, I want you to be able to come up to me and tell me what song you’ll be singing that way I can ensure that there would be no repeats choice wise. Next week will be dedicated to practicing your song and I expect it to be ready by the following Tuesday. Simple enough, right?”

The whole class agrees. It’s Thursday now - there’s plenty of time for him to scroll through his spotify and find a song he likes. Hopefully he can find one that’s obscure enough that way he won’t have to worry about someone having the same song as him.

Unless Junhee hears it and decides he likes it. The very thought makes Donghun’s stomach twist. He will not let anyone be freeloading off of him and his spotify playlist, specifically Junhee. Especially Junhee.

Professor Yejin talks to them for a while more, seemingly just trying to clear up any questions that anyone may have. She lays down her rules on grading and makes it absolutely clear that she’ll only accept a late assignment if you’re too ill to sing. In all honesty, that’s very lenient of her. One of his teachers last year made him sing Do Re Mi while he was recovering from losing his voice.

He’s still upset about the grade on that assignment.

Yejin ends up letting them go at 8:05 - she had run out of things to talk about and did not wish to bore them with stories about her. Though if Donghun were honest, he’d love to hear about her life some more.

She stands at the exit with the stack of syllabi in her arms, passing them out as the students leave, sharing a few words with each of them.

“You’re Lee Donghun, right?” She asks as he walks up to her, gently taking the syllabus from her hand.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Ah, I thought I recognized you. You helped some of my old students from my Vocal Pitch class with holding their notes during the summer.” She says, something akin to awe in her voice. “I’m thankful for it, really. I’ll be seeing them in the next level because of you.” 

Donghun just nods sheepishly, smile widening on his face. “They’re good, but I fear it’s more because of the methods you taught them than anything, ma’am.”

“Nonsense! You helped them as much as I did.” She laughs. “And call me Professor Yejin, dear. Ma’am makes me feel old.”

He just blinks a few times, letting out a stuttered ‘yes’ before bowing his head and walking out of the exit, basking himself in the early morning sunlight. He casts a glance back towards the open door of the classroom, watching as one or two more students shuffle their way out a few minutes after him.

Then he spies Junhee talking with the teacher and he finds himself subconsciously flattening himself against the wall by the door frame, straining to hear their conversation.

“ - It was rather easy, Professor Yejin.” Junhee’s voice chirps out, quieted by the distance between the two of them.

“I’m glad to hear it. Everyone’s been treating you well, right? It would be shameful if they weren’t.” Is all he hears from Yejin, but it’s enough to make his brain spiral into a thousand different thoughts.

Junhee’s probably rich enough to sue Donghun three times over. Junhee could probably bring this whole school down if he were bored of it. The school’s probably already bowing to Junhee’s feet, how else could he get in here? 

_“It was rather easy.”_

Hah! So he did pay his way into this school! That must be it! He must’ve paid Yejin off to let him in her class too -

Donghun scrambles to appear nonchalant as Junhee walks out of the classroom. Donghun casually makes his way to the hallway, constantly glancing behind him as Junhee folds up the syllabus neatly and tucks it into his bag.

Junhee ultimately passes him in the hallway and he should keep his mouth shut. He really should. But he just can’t, not after what he’s heard.

“So, how much did you pay to get into the class?” He asks, just loud enough for Junhee to hear. Junhee all but stops in his spot and whips around to look at Donghun.

“Excuse me?”

“You know - Vocal Development. Was it expensive to buy your way into it?” Donghun asks again, looking at Junhee innocently. “Though it probably didn’t cost as much as the pretty penny you paid to get into this university, right?”

“When will you just shut up about shit like that? I didn’t buy my way in. I worked for it, much like you worked to get in the class. I worked hard and transferred here. Simple as that.”

“That’s what you want people to believe.” Donghun says, moving to carefully place the syllabus into his laptop bag. “Come on, you can admit it, can’t you? Or does your mommy and daddy want you to believe that you’re a big tough adult that is doing everything just right?”

“Don’t talk about me like you know me.” Junhee huffs, turning away again. “I find it funny that you keep trying to start arguments with me only just so you can lament about how you know me.”

“I may not know you, but I know your type.” Donghun says, an impish grin on his face. “Let me know if this sounds familiar to you. Only son of rich tycoon mother and father gets coddled so much that he thinks that everything is okey-dokey. His siblings - probably sisters - grow up the exact same way, coddled and they’re all expected to be mommy and daddy’s special little kids. Then the boy goes to college and everything goes wrong so mommy and daddy pay a little money here and there to pull a few strings to get him into a college that lets him start fresh with no questions asked.”

Junhee doesn’t provide him an answer, instead moving to start walking away from him.

“Then he finds out that no, not everyone in life is going to coddle him, especially not his roommate who has dealt with his fair share of rich assholes who thinks the world will bow to them over a few nice words and manners -” Donghun continues, speeding up to catch up with Junhee. “- but they’re not the right manners. This poor kid seems to lack the ones of the social quality.”

Still no response. It makes Donghun want to cheer out in victory and scream at Junhee at the same time.

“Didn’t your parents at least teach you to try and finish a damn argument? Or are you going to go cry to them right now about how this school isn’t how you wanted it to be? I’m sure you’ll groom the school into your liking if you flash a few more bucks to the counsel.” He says, voice louder as Junhee pulls ahead of him. “Man you’re no fucking fun. What happened to wanting to talk? You always wanted to talk! I’m not even yelling at you! I’m just trying to figure out if my assessment is right -” He says, closing the distances in a short sprint, reaching out to grab Junhee’s wrist to keep him from walking off.

He learns in a matter of seconds that he has made a very, very bad choice.

Junhee stops, body rigid as Donghun stumbles to keep from slamming into him. The way that Junhee’s head turns to look at him over his shoulder is horror movie worthy. Donghun glances down at where he’s holding Junhee’s wrist, gulping and moving to release it and step back a few paces.

The noise Junhee makes is probably supposed to be a word - a curse, probably. It dies somewhere between his lips and his throat, the noise coming out more as a hiss than anything else. He turns around to face Donghun, sighing agitatedly as he sets his bag on the ground.

“I never finish my arguments, do I? Silly me, I should know that you know me better than I know me. I mean you’ve had like - what - almost four weeks to get to know me? More or less? Of course you can read me like a book! You can read people as well as a dog can drive a car. In which you fucking can’t.” Junhee barks out, glaring Donghun down.

“So since you got to have such a fair assessment of me, it’s only fair that I get to do you, right?”

The suppressed yelling in Junhee’s voice is only noticeable because of how his voice wavers. Donghun is trying to convince his legs to move, to bail out of the situation he created, but yet he’s stuck, nervously nodding.

He takes a breath, the words ‘do your worst’ dying on his tongue.

“Now let me repeat what you said. I may not know you, but I know your type.” Ouch. “Mom and dad probably babied him a bit too much, probably told him of all the horrors of the world as precautionary bedtime stories so he took them all to heart because what else can you do when you're a kid?”

Donghun feels panic and guilt bubbling up in his throat.

"Except he never quite grew out of it. As he got older, mom and dad probably forced him to do something he didn’t want to do, but he felt like he had to go through with it other wise mommy and daddy would be very disappointed with him. So now he’s walking around with an inferiority complex and over analyzes the shit out of everything because it all has to fit some cookie cutter plan that he has for his future. Correct?”

Some of it is. His parents had told him cautions about the world, about the bad people in it - but they were lawyers! They dealt with bad things all the time! They just wanted him to be careful. They also never forced him down a career path - they had been ecstatic when he had found a passion that he was interested in. Sure, he analyzes life a lot, but he doesn’t let that lead his life. 

He doesn’t.

Does he?

But Junhee is staring at him, fury boiling behind a calm expression. He’s expecting a response, he knows that. Donghun finds himself swallowing thickly. 

“No -” He starts, weakly. “Not correct -”

“And neither is your complete assessment of me, but you seem pretty damn sure of it.” Junhee grounds out, lips twitching.

“Because -”

“Because what, Donghun?” Junhee snarls, anger flaring. “Let me guess, you’re still convinced that I’m out to suck up to you, huh?”

“I-”

“Because that’s the only thing I can ever do, right? Suck up to people! Can’t be nice because that just makes me look like a kiss up. Can’t be mean because I look like an asshole. I fit the two personality traits you think I have now, are you happy?” Junhee seethes before stepping back and rolling his shoulders. “Forget it. Forget it.” He mutters, casting a glance at the hallway. 

“Don’t wanna make a bigger scene than we already have.” Junhee says, turning to collect his backpack. “I’ll just stop trying. Have a safe walk back to the apartments, Donghun.”

“Junhee - Junhee wait -” Donghun finds himself saying, shakily reaching out his hand as if it would get the others attention. “Let’s talk -”

“Forget it!” Junhee says, voice leaking raw anger. “You don’t get to act like you didn’t expect this shit to happen!” He growls out, heading off down the hallway without so much as another word.

He didn’t. He didn’t expect this shit to go this far. Fuck. 

He wants to call out to Junhee, call out and beg for a moment to just restart this whole thing. Restart everything. But Junhee’s back is retreating and Donghun’s becoming painfully aware that there are a few people - from their class or what he isn’t sure - staring at him. They were watching the whole exchange. 

Donghun panics. He runs. He sprints off down the hallway, face tinged pink with a mix of anger and embarrassment. He finds himself zooming past Junhee but he tells his legs to keep moving because honestly, he’s scared to stop. Scared that he’ll provoke Junhee even further.

He doesn’t stop running until he’s a safe distance away from the hallway. Even then he’s too scared to look back, too scared to see if Junhee’s decided to follow up the argument.

He walks all the way back to the apartment tense, his heart pounding and the sound of blood roaring in his ears.

Donghun knows that he has to fix this. He just doesn’t know how. 

It isn’t until he’s slipping his shoes off and locking the door behind him that he decides to take out his phone. He thinks of who to text.

Sehyoon wouldn’t be happy to know about another argument. Byeongkwan would try to help him but Sehyoon would probably find out at some point or another.

He looks at Yuchan’s contact as he pulls out his phone. He doesn’t know Yuchan well enough for that. A sigh escapes his lips as he scrolls through his contacts.

‘Mom’.

Mom.

Donghun doesn’t even register that he’s calling her until the phone is against his ear.

It rings once, twice, three times. He’s pretty sure that it’ll be going into voicemail. Maybe she’s busy at work -

“Donghun?” A female voice answers on the other end of the line. He momentarily forgets to respond, instead just listening to the breathing on the other end. Should just hang up? Act like he didn’t do this? 

“Sweetheart? Are you there? I hope you didn’t butt-dial me again~” His mother chides lightly. 

He takes a breath.

“Hi, mom.”

The noise on the other side of the phone is nothing but an ecstatic chirp. His mother is quick to throw them into a conversation, asking about school and work and just everything and anything she could get out of her mouth. Donghun does his best to keep up his happy sounding voice, making sure to ask how his mother was in a vague hope that she’d go off on a tangent about her latest case or client.

She, however, does not seem to buy it one bit.

“You’re acting strange, sweetie.” She says and Donghun can just imagine her confused pout. “Has something happened? Something serious?”

“No, no, it’s just -”

“You know that if it’s serious I’ll call the school -”

“It’s not that bad mom, it’s just…” He pauses, trailing off again.

It’s just what? Worse than bad? Awful? He could describe it as so many things. He wants to tell her about how guilty he feels instead of how mad he should feel. He should feel mad. There shouldn’t be an ounce a guilt in his body.

Yet there is.

“I fucked up.” He says finally, grip tightening on his phone. “I fucked up and I don’t know how or if I can fix it.”

“Language.” His mother scolds softly, the sound of a chair scraping against the floor faintly heard on her end. “What happened, dear? Maybe I can help.”

He’s scared, for a moment. Scared that Junhee’s going to kick down their apartment door and yell at him while he’s on the phone. After a moment of trying to collect himself, he spills everything he can think of.

The cat is conveniently forgotten at this point in time. Partially because Donghun’s in a hurry to get it all out on the table, but mainly because he’s scared of his mother ratting Junhee out. She would just make everything worse than that. 

His mother, his blessed mother, lets him ramble up a storm. She lets him talk without her interrupting; only jumping in to remind him to slow down at some parts. She’s every bit a lawyer as she is a mother; the two careers went hand in hand while raising him. From a young age he was taught to restate any issues he had to the best of his possibility. It was imperative that he should never leave a detail out.

Yet he was skipping over the whole reason this started. 

He slowly stops talking as soon as he realizes that he has rambled for most of the conversation. It’s not a good idea to let him ramble.

“I just want to be clear.” His mom starts, “This all started because he broke a rule? One that was set by the school and not by you?”

“Yes, mom.”

“I can see why you’re angry, then.” She says, something soft in her voice. “You were always strict about rules, I feel like me and dad are to blame for that one. We always talked business around you.”

That’s not true. They only talked about business on the late nights where he had nightmares of criminals breaking into their home. Even then, they would pat him on the head as they gave their spiel on what happened to bad guys in court. Afterwards, they would simply end it with some exaggerated comment about how one of them would roundhouse kick a criminal if one so much as tried to bust their door open.

He knew that they were exaggerating because his mom has bad knees and dad had the perpetual habit of stubbing his toe on anything. So if he wanted to see them perform a roundhouse kick, he’d have to see it in his dreams.

(“You can’t take a lawyer to court!” His mom would cry dramatically as his dad tickled his sides and pushed his hair out of his eyes.)

“No.” He says finally, smiling at the memory. “I think I just became a stickler for peace and order as I got older.”

“You got that from your dad’s side, then.”

“Then what did I get from you?”

“Your rampant over analyzation of any and every detail.”

Ah. Makes sense.

“But that’s okay!” His mom quickly amends, “It makes you, well, you! It’s just something you need to work on. Let loose a little.”

“I feel like it’s too late to work on how I act though; I think I already managed to make my roommate hate me.” 

His mom is quiet for a moment and he shuffles off to go sprawl out on the couch, staring around the room idly. It feels barren. There’s a few things that belong to him on the shelf by the tv, but Junhee has failed to put anything in.

The only things that remind him that Junhee even lives there are Latte and Junhee himself.

“I doubt anyone could hate you that quickly. Hatred takes awhile to build up.” She finally settles on. 

“Gee, thanks mom.”

“Oh! No sarcastic comments on your mother!” She huffs. “He make dislike you a bit, but don’t you think he deserves to?”

No.

Yes.

Maybe?

“I dunno.” He mumbles; instead focusing his attention on how the sound of Latte’s paws alert him that she’s entered the living room.

“I think you do.”

“...Yes.” He says after a moment. “I guess he deserves to dislike me. So that means I deserve to dislike him too, right?”

“I suppose.” She says. “But this all started over a rule - and I have a very important question to ask you.”

God, why does it sound like she’s about to interrogate him? She’s definitely going to interrogate him. This is going to be like the time she caught him fooling around with his ex during their spring break when she decided to do a surprise visit -

“Is it a rule that could potentially hurt someone?” 

“No.” He says, draping his arm off the couch so Latte could rub against it. Not really, right? Unless Donghun was allergic to the cat - which he wasn’t.

“Is it a rule you would break, if given the chance?” 

Now that sounds familiar. He’s pretty sure that he could recall Sehyoon or Byeongkwan saying that to him. Which one was it? It doesn’t matter. It’s still something he knew the answer to a long time ago.

“Yes.” 

“Then why are you mad about it?” She asks. “Why are you so willing to assume that this guy is going to try and make your life a living hell?”

“Because -” He pauses.

Because why?

“That’s how people always treated me when I was younger - they’d break a rule and come over to me and go ‘you better not tattle’ or something like that.” Donghun says, chewing on his lower lip. “It makes sense to be cautious.”

“Sweetheart.” His mother sighs. “It makes sense to be cautious, but you’ve become vehemently cautious. It’s not healthy for you or anyone around you.”

“So you’re saying I shouldn’t be concerned that my roommate might try to force me not to tell anyone that he broke a rule?” Donghun asks incredulously, glancing down at his legs when he feels Latte jump onto them and settle down.

“I never said that. But does your roommate give you that bad of a vibe that you’re scared that he’s going to threaten you?”

He thinks about it. Junhee never really gave him a vibe to begin with; good or bad. He just merely existed in the edges of Donghun’s mind. 

“I suppose not.” He decides on the words carefully, “I think..”

“You think what?” His mom prompts.

“That perhaps I’ve over thought a lot of the things he’s done. That maybe I’ve been a tad hypocritical when I had no right to be.”

He can practically hear his mom smile. It takes a lot for Donghun to admit his faults - it always has. Back when he was a teenager, it took three weeks for him to fess up and apologize to his parents about throwing a fit over not getting to go to a private high school with his friends.

(In the end he had learned that they did it for his own good because the teachers at the school were assholes. Plus they just couldn’t afford it at the time. He’s made peace with it.)

“See? That wasn’t so hard was it?” It was.

“I guess.” He lies. “But what do I do? I feel like I’ve already destroyed any chances of us being able to simply co-exist; let alone be friends with each other.”

His mother simply tuts at him. 

“All you have to do is apologize, explain your faults. After that just do what you feel is best - so you crush down all your second guesses and thoughts and do whatever you think is right before your mind warps it and messes everything up.” She says sagely. Donghun can imagine her nodding her head along to her own advice. She's probably doing exactly that, actually.

“I’ll try it, mom. But I’m scared that anything I say will sound fake and forced at this point.” He whines, moving to nudge at Latte as she stands up to circle his legs again and plop down. Spoiled cat.

“The keys to any relationship, friendship or otherwise, is patience and trust.” His mom replies simply - almost vaguely.

“But how does that help me -”

“You’ll figure it out.” She says, drowning out his comment before sighing. “I gotta go now, alright honey? Please let me know how it goes.”

He’s too baffled to really answer her, instead going on autopilot through his goodbyes. He vaguely hears himself say that he loves her. The line goes dead and he finds himself holding his phone inches away from his ear.

Trust and patience. Two things he struggled with.

He casts his gaze down to look at Latte, sitting up and moving to pet her slightly.

“I’m going to try and make things better.” He says, laughing a little at the ridiculousness of this image. He’s talking to a cat for heaven’s sake! “Do you think I can make things better?”

She doesn’t answer. Of course she wouldn’t. She just seems to be happy that someone's petting her. That makes sense. Junhee hasn’t been home since around six thirty this morning. Now that he looks at it, the clock is about to strike noon.

Was he really on the phone for that long?

Man, time flies when you’re trying to figure shit out.

He sets his phone down onto the couch cushion, moving to pick up Latte and swing his legs off the couch and stand up. Latte squirms in his arms, wiggling around and pushing against his arms to escape.

He ends up letting her go, but he can see why Junhee holds her so often. She’s soft.

Speaking of Junhee - when is he getting back? It seems like he had another class or something. What time was his class? What was his class? Did he find the class okay?

Is he even going to come back to the apartment after this morning? He has to, right? All of his things are here and, well, Donghun isn’t sure that he’s made any friends. Or at least, hasn’t made any friends that would willingly let him stay at their dorm or apartment.

Donghun puffs out his cheeks.

He can think of a way to apologize while making himself something to eat.

The coffee pot is still holding at least a cups worth of coffee - but it’s no doubt cold by now. Donghun grimaces, taking the pot and swirling it around before going and pouring it down the sink.

Even though he complained about it a bit, the coffee maker was a good decision.

He makes himself busy by digging through the cupboards and settling on chicken noodle soup. Good for the body and the soul. If he ignores all the sodium, anyway.

Maybe Junhee will want some when he gets back. Perhaps that can be his apology. Something like: ‘Sorry for being an asshole here’s some soup.’

No, that sounds stupid. The ‘sorry for being an asshole’ could be a good start, though. Maybe not. Humor might not be a good way to go about this topic.

It doesn’t take long for the soup to heat up. He quickly finds himself sitting at the table that Junhee had set up. It’s in bit of an odd place, pressed against the outer wall of the kitchen. It’s technically in their living room, behind their couch with just enough room to walk in between the two.

It’s a health hazard waiting to happen.

But again, begrudgingly, Donghun thinks it’s nice to have a flat surface to eat on. He stirs his spoon in the broth idly, thinking about what he can do.

He’s never been great at apologies. Especially giving them. Receiving them wasn’t his strong suit either. This is the exact reason why he tries to avoid arguments.

Yet here he is.

Donghun eats his soup slowly, allowing time to pass as he pieces his apology together. He doesn’t want it to be a long apology; he doesn’t want it to be an apology that Junhee accepts out of pity. He wants a perfect, full blown, honest one.

By the time he’s washing up the bowl and coffee pot in the sink, he hears the door open and shut. He glances at the bowl and pot, scrubbing them down quickly and moving to rinse them off and set them on the drying rack. He dries his hands quickly, hoping to catch Junhee while he’s still in the living room.

Alas, he isn’t there by the time Donghun leaves the kitchen. He gulps, moving to creep down the hall quietly, taking note of how the bedroom door is cracked open a little wider than how he left it.

He pokes his head into the room, ready to say something -

Junhee’s laying face down on his bed, bag flat on the floor with Latte sniffing through it. Ah. Maybe it would be best not to disturb him right now. Donghun bites his lip and retreats back to the living room to sit on the couch and idly flip his phone through his hands. He won't say that he just chickened out of talking to Junhee. It was more of a tactical retreat. At least, that's what he'll keep telling himself while he's in the living room. 

He gives Junhee about forty five minutes before he heads back to the room, knocking on the door frame. Junhee startles at that, rolling over and sitting up to blink at Donghun owlishly.

“What?” He asks, no noticeable edge in his voice. Just exhaustion.

“I uh...made soup. There’s enough if you want a bowl.” Is all Donghun manages to get out, apology faltering on his tongue.

“Okay.”

One word can often say a lot. In this case, it tells Donghun that Junhee has no intention of carrying on this conversation.

The one time that Donghun really needs the conversation to continue.

“Can we talk?” Donghun finds himself asking, gripping the door frame slightly to keep himself from bolting. “I feel like we uh - need to talk things out.”

“Now you wanna talk -” Junhee grumbles, voice growing quieter and inaudible as he continues to talk to himself. 

Donghun can't help but watch the other, frowning slightly. Junhee must notice that because he shuts his mouth and pulls his lips into a thin line. The younger runs a hand through his hair.

“Fine. We can talk.” Junhee sighs, waving him into the room.

Donghun honestly hasn’t moved as quickly as he does in that moment. He’s scared that if he doesn’t then Junhee will change his mind. He quickly settles himself onto his bed, deciding that it’s a safe distance between him and the other. 

A respectful distance. After a moment he finally works up the courage to speak.

“I just...wanted to apologize.” He says, hoping that he sounded sincere.

Junhee turns towards him. So it’s a step in the right direction.

“For today and the last few weeks. I - I was hypocritical. You were right when you called me out on it. This morning got out of hand. I don’t want there to be any bad blood between us. So I’m sorry. I said some stupid shit that I had no right to say to you. It was something that could've been avoided.” He says, swallowing down the paranoia and fear that Junhee wouldn’t accept it.

Thankfully, Junhee seems willing to cooperate.

“I...thank you.” He pauses, opening and shutting his mouth a few times. “It means a lot to hear you apologize.”

Donghun just nods, ducking his head to hide the flush in his face.

“I feel like I have to apologize too, though.” Junhee says, hands smoothing down his jeans as he talks. “I was the one that kind of started this all with the cat.”

“I overreacted.”

“Whether you did or not, I have to take some of the blame about it.” Junhee insists, waving his hands in front of him. “I’m sorry about what I said this morning, too. I doubt any of it was true.”

Donghun doesn’t want to admit that some of it felt close to home. Instead he just smiles and accepts the apology.

They talk for a bit, further diffusing all the arguments they had. The room no longer feels suffocating - more-so awkward than anything else. What did he expect, though? Instant friends? He may be a bit of a dreamer sometimes, but never for something like this. 

Donghun can tell that they’re still on odd terms. At least the terms aren’t angry or resentful though. He no longer fears that Junhee will walk up to him and randomly punch him in the face, now. 

Junhee mentions that he has a three hour class in about an hour after the conversation veers away from their shortcomings and faults. Donghun is happy that they’re finally having a friendly conversation - but he can’t help but wonder what other classes Junhee has to take. They’re the same major; he can’t recall ever taking a three hour class last year.

Maybe, if they get closer, he’ll find out. It just feels a little weird to ask now. Silence falls over them for a bit, Junhee becoming focused on cooing at Latte when she rubs up against the side of his bed. Meanwhile Donghun just continues to think, continues to worry that everything is not as okay as it seems. 

It all still feels a bit awkward.

“Can we start over?” Donghun asks after awhile, “You know, from square one?”

The silence suddenly isn’t weird anymore. It’s turned….thoughtful.

“No.” Junhee says, sending a bolt of panic through Donghun. “We can start from square zero.”

“Square zero? Does that even exist?” Donghun questions, watching as Latte struggles to jump onto Junhee’s bed. Junhee’s leg is in the way of where she wants to jump; soon enough Junhee leans down to pick her up and plop her on the bed as he moves to stand up.

“It does now. It works better that way.” Junhee says casually, rolling his shoulders. “We’re no longer on negative terms but we can’t quite say that we’re on positive ones -”

“So square zero is neutral.” Donghun finishes.

Junhee just nods. He’s got a point, a very good point. It does make sense in every way, even if it’s a bit disheartening. Donghun’s just scared of another argument breaking out, launching them into the negatives.

_(‘The keys to any relationship, friendship or otherwise, is patience and trust.’)_

So he’ll trust that they’ll try to stay out of arguments and be patient with Junhee. That's what he thinks his mom meant, anyway.

“I wish we could start over how we met. How the last few weeks have gone.” Junhee murmurs after a while, nearly inaudible because of the air conditioner kicking on. Donghun thinks for a few minutes, chewing on his inner lip. He knows they can’t actually do that (even though he wishes that they could), but he can think of a few other ways to try and start fresh. He’s been pondering it since his phone call with his mom.

“We can - well. We can start fresh. With blank slates, I mean.” Donghun says carefully, paranoid that his brain to mouth filter will word it wrong. “How about when you get back after your next class, we start fresh? We’ll act like we don’t know each other and we’ll greet each other properly.”

“That sounds...good. Really good.” Junhee says.

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Donghun says, sprawling out onto his bed. “Just one thing, Junhee.”

“Yes?”

“I’m still not...one hundred percent okay with your cat, but I don’t want it to come in between us.”

Junhee, thankfully, lets out a soft huff of laughter. The feeling of any remaining tension bleeds out of the air. 

“That’s fair.” Junhee says, pausing for a moment. “You’ll grow to like her. She’s a good cat.”

“We’ll see.” Donghun supplies, watching Junhee move to start gathering things. “I’m going to settle down for a nap, but I should be awake when you get back.” He hums, stretching out happily. 

It takes another minute or two of Junhee fixing himself up before going to pick up his bag. 

“I’ll see you when I get back. Save the soup that you made, please.” Junhee finally says, face looking...tired. Relieved, but tired. Donghun just nods, humming a bit in response. “Have a good nap, Donghun.”

“Try not to get lost.” Donghun replies, waving him off as Junhee readjusts the strap on his shoulder and heads out of the bedroom.

This afternoon was better than this morning. Tonight will be better than this afternoon. 

(He’s determined to make this work.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'm sorry that I kept you guys waiting for so long. So here it is, exactly a month later from the last update. It's a tad shorter because I didn't want to keep you all waiting longer than you already have.
> 
> BTW: Here's a photo of how I imagine Latte, what a good kitty. [Latte!](https://68.media.tumblr.com/8c5a38e874352e1706fb917f27f5e19e/tumblr_messaging_owezqkYAMG1txsx3n_1280.jpg)
> 
> BONUS: I'm planning a possible Halloween story, it's still in the roughest stages bc we're so far from Halloween. It'll be a one off (or possibly two chapters), so if the updates for this lag a bit, now you know why. It's going to be a long Halloween special, that's for sure.

**(5:34 PM) Sehyoon:**   
_so have you killed your roommate_

**(5:37 PM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**   
_Pls don’t say that u have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! where would u put the body???? Where would WE put the body???? I cant go to jail for assisting in dumping a body ; v ;_

Donghun decides to stress them out and leave them on read while he starts to make dinner. Besides, he’s more focused on not absolutely burning the food. If it were for just him he wouldn’t mind a few burned bits; now he has to worry about Junhee finding his cooking suitable.

He wouldn’t be worried if this weren’t a second chance. If he had burned food on their first introduction, he could’ve made it up. But he was making up for his terrible attitude. So therefore, no burned bits. He stirs the radish and the broth around in a pot before moving to prepare some of the other food.

The food he’s making is his own discount version of Kkotgetang. He calls it a discount version because, well, he doesn’t have all the ingredients for it. Plus the crab he’s using for the dish isn’t the most preferred version; it tends to be better to have the freshest crab possible. Yet all he could really afford was some frozen crab that he had found in a local market. It was a panic purchase.

He wants to make a good meal to prove that he can be a decent person to live with. Plus he really just wanted Kkotgetang and rice. It was something that his mom and dad would make every time he completed a big project or did well on an important test.

He considers apologizing as an important test. 

It might be a bit bad that he’s rehearsing how he’s going to re-introduce himself. It’s a bit hard to come back from being a complete asshole for a nearly a month. 

There’s no way he could just go and say his name and act like everything is fine. It’s not fine - they agreed to act like they don’t know each other but that doesn’t mean that Junhee will willingly forget how shitty of a human being Donghun has been.

He wants to seem sincere.

Donghun is lured out of his own mind by the sound of a meow. He whips his head around out of slight panic, worried. Did Latte knock something over?

The absence of a crashing noise soothes that fear, but his worry returns when he sees her pawing his phone closer to the edge of the counter. Oh no.

He adds in the crab to the pot after hurrying to clean it up; somehow more concerned with losing dinner then his phone breaking. Still he hustles his way over to the counter Latte is on, hoisting her up into his arms.

“No kitties on the counter.” He scolds gently, soothing her fur down. She doesn’t fuss as much, instead situating herself to snuggle closer to his chest. “Ah, you’re just a big softy, aren’t you?”

He glances down at her, frowning slightly at a passing thought.

“Are you missing Junhee?” Donghun asks, taking her squirming as a valid answer. “He’ll be home soon and then he could feed you, okay?” He says with a hint of finality, moving to gently place her back onto the floor. He’d feed her if he knew how to prepare her food. The last thing he wants to do is poison Junhee’s cat. 

It’s at that point that he makes a slight realization - Latte has a bobbed tail. Huh. Had he noticed that before? He can’t recall.

Latte saunters off, seemingly sated with the brief attention she had just garnered. Donghun clicks his tongue before picking up his phone.

He’ll answer them now since he doesn’t have to worry about the apartment going up in flames. Both the rice and the stew need to cook without human interference for a bit. 

**(5:51 PM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**   
_oh god donghun actually killed his roommate_

**(5:53 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_another one bites the dust._

**(5:53 PM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**  
_anoTHER ONE?!_

Donghun would love for this to go on, he really would. The concept of being bombarded by text from Byeongkwan motivates him to actually scroll through the rest and finally type out his reply.

**(6:02 PM) Donghun:**  
_Byeongkwan please understand that I love you but if you think I could kill a man then you have very very very high expectations that I can’t achieve. But no I didn’t kill him, he’s quite alive actually. I’m making dinner for him & I and we’re talking things out._

**(6:03 PM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**  
_OH THANK GOD!!!!!!!!! we can meet him now right,,,,please,,,_

Donghun considers it. Maybe it’d be good for them to meet. Or maybe it would be bad. Considering that Yuchan has started to work his way into the group already, throwing Junhee in would make it uneven. Again.

Besides, he’s not sure if Junhee was ready to get thrown into the deep end. He probably had his own group of friends already.

He probably also didn’t want to hang out with Donghun anytime soon.

**(6:06 PM) Donghun:**   
_No._

**(6:07 PM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**   
_; v ; can we at least kno his name then ; ~ ;_

Donghun thought about it before casting a glance over to the stove. He really had to finish cooking before Junhee got back.

A sigh.

**(6:09 PM) Donghun:**   
_Park Junhee. I’m going to go back to cooking, now._

**(6:09 PM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**   
_that name,,,,sounds familiar,,,,,imma look for him on like twitter or something so i can follow him hehe_

He doesn’t bother giving Byeongkwan a response. Instead he strides back over to the stove, making sure to stir around the stew a bit before going to scavenge for some red pepper flakes. He couldn’t add as much spice as his parents usually did, but he could compensate with pepper flakes.

The rice finishes before the stew; so he quickly goes to turn off the rice cooker to prevent burning. 

The stew finishes at six thirty. He keeps it warm until Junhee walks through the door at six fifty.

He busies himself with setting the table, precariously balancing bowls of food and utensils as he wanders from the kitchen to their little table. Junhee has settled down on his haunches, cooing and petting Latte happily.

Junhee doesn’t even seem to particularly notice Donghun until Donghun has set down the dishes, the clinking of bowls pulling his attention away from the very happy cat rubbing against his legs.

“Hello.” He says, some sort of twinkle in his eye as he stands up. “I’m Park Junhee, a junior.” He pauses, gesturing towards Latte. “Is Latte, my cat. Please treat us well.”

Donghun finds the whole thing kind of amusing, so he cracks a smile and offers a slight bow. “I’m Lee Donghun, a senior. I’ll treat you well if you treat me well.”

Junhee grins at that. 

“I made dinner, so wash up and put your bag down and we’ll eat.” Donghun says, nodding at the table. 

“Ah, okay!” Junhee laughs slightly before casting a glance back at his cat. “She hasn’t eaten yet, right?” He asks. Donghun shakes his head no and Junhee just nods. “Let me feed her first.”

Donghun nods, watching as Junhee moves to set his bag on the couch before walking into the kitchen. Donghun finds himself watching curiously, interested in seeing how Junhee prepares Latte’s food. Who knows; maybe Donghun will have to do it one day.

There’s nothing too special about it at all, actually. Junhee retrieves Latte’s food bowl from the top cupboard before pulling a bag of finely chopped meat from the fridge and scooping a few spoonfuls into the bowl. He heats it up a bit too - maybe more so for Latte’s preference than an actual required step. He also puts a bit of water in it before stirring it around into slush. It’s….actually kinda gross. Interesting, but gross. He takes out a second bowl and fills that one with just water.

(Junhee makes that himself. When does he make it? Donghun has never caught Junhee making it before.)

Junhee lets out a whistle as he takes the bowls and moves them to the far corner of the living room next to the extra closet. Latte follows after him momentarily before noticing what exact she got whistled for. 

Wait.

Junhee whistle trained his cat.

What the fuck, Junhee.

With Latte taken care of, Junhee returns to the kitchen and puts the food away and places the spoon he used in the sink before scrubbing down his hands and moving to sit at the table while Donghun moves to pour them some water.

“You really love her, huh?” Donghun asks, setting a glass in front of Junhee.

“She’s my closest friend.” Junhee says simply. “I take good care of my friends.”

Donghun tries to find a joke somewhere in that. Yet Junhee looks at him with a hint of sincerity in his eyes and Donghun suddenly feels something tug at his heart a bit.

“I understand. I take good care of my friends, too.” 

Junhee nods his head in agreement. The next few minutes are filled with nothing more than them eating. Donghun’s desperate to find something to talk about, desperate to try and build up some kinda friendship other than them just being roommates.

He glances over to where Latte is eating.

There’s his conversation topic.

“So. What kind of cat is she?” He asks, thrumming his fingers along the side of his glass. He’s praying that Junhee takes the question and runs with it. 

Thankfully, Junhee perks up at the hint of the conversation.

“She’s a Kurilian Bobtail!” Junhee says happily, positively beaming. “She’s from the Kuril Islands. Or well, her breed is.”

“Never heard of that place.”

“It’s a little string of islands that are under Russian jurisdiction. However, it’s also close to Hokkaido. She’s not a very common cat, but there are a few breeders here and there.” Junhee states, pushing around the soup in his bowl.

“Oh, that’s interesting.” Donghun says, moving to eat some of his rice. “So when did you get her?”

“Three and a half years ago. My parents and my sisters went on a trip to Japan. My oldest sister stayed a little longer than they did. When she got back, she said she had something for me.” Junhee says, shrugging as if it’s the simplest thing in the world. 

“So she got you Latte?”

“Yeah.” Junhee confirms, nodding his head. “Latte’s been with me ever since. I guess it was kinda just…...yeah.” 

Donghun knows when not to push. So he smiles pleasantly instead and continues to eat.

“What are you minoring in?” Junhee asks after a while, pushing his empty bowls of food away from him. 

“Communication Arts. With a specialty in radio hosting.” Donghun says, puffing out a bit in pride. “I even get to host my radio show again this year.” 

Junhee makes a positive noise at that and Donghun feels the pride in his chest swell even more. It’s not like he should really care what anyone thinks - let alone Junhee. Yet he can’t help but feel happy that someone finally had an interest in Communication Arts. It has such a small following as it is. 

No one really ever considers being a DJ in their day to day life. Or a radio host for that matter. So to see Junhee be interested in it can be regarded as some form of flattery to Donghun.

“I’ll have to tune in one day.” Junhee says pleasantly, tilting his head and smiling.

Donghun can’t help but grin back.

“What do you minor in, then?” He asks, moving to rest his head on his palms.

“I don’t have a minor!” Junhee chirps, all too happily. “I’m double majoring!”

If there were records playing, they would’ve scratched right at that moment. 

Donghun squints at him, takes in the full view of Junhee. His lopsided grin and his wavy hair. The way he smiles with too many teeth.

This boy, double majoring?

“Oh, really? What are you majoring in, then? Other than Vocal Performance?”

“Acting, with a special focus in musicals. It’s always been a passion of mine.” Junhee says. “It keeps me busy. I have a class every day except for Sunday.”

“You have Saturday classes? Why do you insist on being so busy?” Donghun asks, blinking at him owlishly. It sounds stupid and risky to do take that many classes. Sure a double major can be fruitful in the end but that’s only if you don’t keel over and die before graduation. Junhee will keel over and die by the third week.

“It’s only one class and it’s at night. So I’m not too pressed about it. Plus it's not necessarily mandatory, it's just fun.” The other hums, taking a sip of his water. “But I like to keep busy that way I can - well - I guess -” He pauses, scratching at the back of his neck. “I guess it’s kinda complicated. I don’t really want to, uh, share it -”

“That’s fine!” Donghun assures. “Don’t worry about sharing things you don’t want to share. I won’t pry if you don’t.”

Junhee relaxes at that, smiling creeping back onto his face. He just nods and relaxes into his seat, lapsing into silence.

They ultimately end up cleaning the table together, Donghun in charge of wiping down the table while Junhee takes all the dishes to the sink. Donghun had insisted that he’d do it; yet Junhee had continuously refused while insisting that it was his job to do the dishes. When Donghun had questioned him on it, he had simply looked confused and asked if Donghun’s parents didn’t make him do that.

No, his parents didn’t make him do that. With the haste that Junhee went to pick up all their dishes, it was easy to see that it was an expected thing for him.

There are several things that makes him think that Junhee was from a somewhat proper family. The one noticeable detail being that he always dressed with his shirt tucked in. Sometimes, when Junhee was lazing about the apartment, only the front of his shirt would be tucked into his pants. 

His hair was always brushed, if not a little frizzed. He filed his nails well late at night when he couldn’t sleep. 

The most important one that Donghun had hypothesized revolved around Latte.

Rebellion. Living life after being groomed a certain way for so long. Finally doing something he wanted to do and not caring about the consequences. Latte had been a gift from his sister, not from his parents. That said enough as it is.

Or maybe Donghun’s overthinking it all again. Maybe Junhee just wanted to come off as approachable and proper. Maybe he has a cat just for the sake of having a companion. 

But Donghun can’t help but glance at Junhee as he walks into the kitchen. He’s standing at the sink, scrubbing diligently enough that his head is bobbing in time with his scrubs.

“Can I get the washcloth really quick?” Donghun asks politely, startling Junhee out of his cleaning daze.

“Oh, yeah.” He replies, moving to finish cleaning the dish before setting it into the second empty sink. “I’ll rinse off what I’ve washed. Can you grab Latte’s bowls for me and bring them here? Leave the water bowl if there’s still some in it.”

Donghun makes a noise of affirmation, nodding his head as he plucks the cloth from Junhee’s hand. He diligently heads over to wipe down the table, pushing in their chairs in the process. 

He marvels at the fact that he can head back to Junhee and give the washcloth to him with ease. There’s still an air of awkwardness; yet Donghun hopes that it will go away with time. 

In the meantime, he’ll just try to keep out of arguments with Junhee. Which is exactly why he goes to grab Latte’s food bowl, leaving her water dish out since there was still water in it. He wouldn’t have done this originally, but now he’s determined to make it work. Past him would’ve made a snippy comment about Junhee doing it himself. 

Donghun shakes his head and walks back to the kitchen. He has a lot of grievances to make up for. He slides the bowl into the sink casually, admiring the dedication Junhee has to setting all the clean dishes on the drying rack.

“I can do rinse and put them on the rack if you want to continue washing.” Donghun says, gently bumping Junhee out of the way and taking his position to start rinsing off dishes.

“But my parents -”

“Your parents aren’t here now.” Donghun huffs. “Let me help you.”

“But -”

“Junhee.”

The other falls quiet at that, pouting a little before looking at the dishes in front of him. He squeezes the rag in his hands briefly; pursing his lips before going to start washing them down. 

The silence returns to a somewhat awkward vibe. He doesn't know what to say to cure it this time around. Did he insult Junhee by offering to do the dishes? It's not impossible to insult someone because of that right? He actually isn't sure.

Should he apologize? What if Junhee isn't mad and Donghun is just reading too much into it? Why did he always end up in situations like this?

 

He can only stand the silence for so long -

“Thank you.” The words are quiet, barely audible over the clinking of the dishes and the running water. “My parents wouldn't help me with dishes at home.”

Donghun frowns a bit.

“It goes faster with two people.” Is what he ultimately settles on, moving to reposition the bowls on the drying rack. “Besides, you seem rather well off - uh that came out wrong -” He pauses, pursing his lips. “What I mean is; don't you have a dishwasher? A machine does it faster than people.”

Junhee doesn't seem to take any offense to the comment. Instead he just kind of shrugs his shoulders and lets out a little laugh.

“We have one, but that was only used when influential guests came over. So my parents would use it to show off. Otherwise I did the dishes alone. They said that it helps build character. My sisters did it by themselves too until they started university.” He says casually, passing some silverware over to Donghun.

“So who does it now?”

“Dunno.” Junhee says. 

There's a hint of finality to it. Donghun can read it clear as day - no more questions. He was probing a bit too far. That's alright; he doesn't want to force Junhee into talking about stuff that he obviously doesn't want to talk about.

Instead, he's determined to see how ready Junhee really is for this school year. For some reason, he just can’t believe that this kid is as determined as him to finish college.

“So, how many classes are you taking a week?” He asks innocently, moving to dry off his hands once he puts the last dish away.

“Well -” Junhee pauses as he dries his own hands before counting off on his fingers. “ - I have two on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday; three on Thursday and one on Friday.”

“Why do you have three on Thursday but not on any other day?” 

“The teacher only teaches the class on that one day.” The other shrugs. 

“Oh.” He says, sorting the information into his head. “How many classes are you taking this semester?”

“Six.”   
If Donghun were drinking something, he would’ve choked.

“Six?” He repeats, sputtering a bit. “Are you trying to kill yourself?”

Junhee shrugs. “I like to be kept busy.”

“There’s a difference between being busy and driving yourself up a wall.” Donghun says, exasperated.

“Nah, I think I’ll be okay. Two of them only meet up once a week. The others meet up twice. It’s not too bad.”

Donghun just clicks his tongue.

“You say that now.” He chides, laughing a bit. “So how many credits are you taking in total?”

“Seventeen.”

“Jesus fucking christ.” Donghun says. “I’d die.”

Junhee just laughs a bit, eyes crinkling as he does.

“It can be a bit hectic, but I took eighteen my freshman year and nineteen my sophomore year just so I could apply here. This is considered a break for me.” He says, smiling and looking sheepish. “My school didn’t have a lot of the classes I specifically needed, so I had to do online courses to make sure I’d get in here.” 

That’s dedication. Donghun isn’t sure if he’d have that motivation to continue university. If there was one thing he could respect about Junhee, it was his apparent dedication.

“What about you?” Junhee asks, fidgeting a bit. At Donghun’s confused noise, he clarifies; “Classes?”

“Oh.” He breathes out. “Only four. They’re three credits each so I’m still considered a full time student, but I’m busy with being a radio host and having a job so it feels like a full plate.”

“Mm, I’d imagine.” Junhee says, laughing a bit. “So the days you don’t have class are the days where you work?”

“Basically.” He replies, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, you won’t have to worry about paying the rent all on your own. I’m going to be looking for a job in the next few weeks.” Junhee says, smiling.

“A job on top of six classes? Do you want to become a social hermit?”

“I’m not going to force you to pay my share of the rent.” Junhee says, perhaps a bit stubbornly. 

“I appreciate the help, it’s just that you sound like you’re going to drown in your work -”

“You act like I won’t be able to handle it.” Junhee bites out, face scrunching up into something that reminds Donghun of their last few arguments.

Part of him does think that Junhee can't handle it. He doesn't know what type of school - public or private - Junhee’s old school was. Junhee might not be equipped to handle these classes if all he knows is public university classes.

“It's not that.” He soothes, waving his hands frantically. “I just worry that you might get stressed out since you're a transfer student and all.”

Junhee squints at him long and hard, shoulders finally relaxing a bit.

“It's nice of you to worry.” He mumbles quietly. “Sorry if I came off as snappy - I just…”

“You wanna prove yourself?” Donghun asks.

“Yeah.”

Ah. 

Junhee isn't a strange and confusing person when it comes to classes and school. He's surprisingly easy to read in that case.

Donghun understands, he really does. He was like that when he first stepped foot on campus as a freshman. Back then he had a sneaking suspicion that his parents were unhappy with the art college route. 

Donghun had overfilled his schedule to the point of driving himself to become an unsociable gremlin who lived within his dorm. Until Sehyoon came in and forced him to break out of that routine.

After a few tearful breakdowns and Sehyoon coaxing him, he had called his mom near the end of his first year in college. That's where he learned that his life parents were happy that he was steering away from the normal business life.

(“Three lawyers would have been dreadful!” His mom soothed over the line. “We’d all threaten to sue each other!”)

The following years, he took the recommended amount of classes.

Now he stares at Junhee, who seems to be like the kid he was freshman year.

_“I like to be kept busy.”_

But why?

“You alright Donghun?” Junhee asks, snapping him out of the depths of his thoughts. 

He's quick to nod, clearing his throat as he pulled on a smile.

“Oh, I'm fine! Just got caught thinking about some stuff, that's all.” He grins. “Just look after yourself, alright? I don't want my roommate to huddle into a corner because of all the work he's got.”

Junhee perks up excitedly at the term roommate, which Donghun finds oddly endearing. He didn't even call him a friend. Hell as of now, they have no intentions on being anything close to friends.

Yet here Junhee is, smiling like a damn fool over it.

Donghun feels the sudden urge to walk away from the conversation. Mainly because he wants to smile back. Sure they patched things up - but he's not ready to get to know Junhee. Not right now, not right at this moment. In fact, he feels like he's been around the other for long enough.

“How sweet of you! I'll make sure to take care of myself!” Junhee grins.

Donghun just forces his most natural smile.

“Good. I'm going to go organize stuff in our room, alright?” He says, stepping away from the counter he was leaning on.

Junhee just nods, mentioning how he had to brush Latte out. He makes a joke about turning her into a puff ball, taking on a look of glee when Donghun snorts and says that she already is.

He hopes that there isn't any legitimate awkwardness between them as he walks out of the kitchen and to their room. He keeps their bedroom door cracked, taking in the soft cooing that he can hear from the living room.

What a softy.

_“I guess it was just kinda…yeah.”_

He can't help but think of that line as he moves to organize the clothes in his drawer. It had sounded off, weird in a way that Donghun can't place. Why did Junhee sound so odd about it if his sister had gotten him the cat?

Donghun shakes his head. It's none of his business.

He takes peace in reorganizing his clothes. There's no reason for him too, but whatever. They'll end up in the same places anyways. He just needed a reason to get out of the kitchen.

Part of him wants to go back out into the living room. In truth, he hadn't seen much of Junhee’s interactions with Latte. This was of course because he had spent the last few weeks being a tad mean, but still.

Well, at least he knows how Junhee feeds Latte now. Just in case he ever has to do it. Not that he will. It takes a while for him to finally get up and settle in for the night, grabbing a fresh pair of pajamas and shuffling off to shower.

By the time he steps out of the bathroom and walks back into the bedroom, Junhee is laying out his own pajamas on his bed.

“Shower is free when you want it.” Donghun hums. “Just put your towel in the basket when you’re done and I’ll take it down to the laundry room in the morning.” 

“Are you sure?” Junhee asks; not even bothering to cast a glance over at the elder. 

“Well I have nothing to do until about eleven in the morning. So unless you’re free -”

“Ah, no. I have to get up by seven to get ready for class.” Junhee sighs, moving to pick up all his clothes. Donghun can’t help but snort at the way Junhee’s shoulders slump.

“Morning classes aren’t that bad.” He soothes, moving out of the doorway as Junhee started to walk over. “So yeah, just put your towel in the basket. You can do the laundry next week on a day you’re able to do it, but I’ll do it this week.”

Junhee just nods, pressing his clothes closer to his chest. “Alright, thank you sir -” Junhee catches himself, blinking quickly as he lets out a startled laugh. “Donghun. Thank you, Donghun.” 

Donghun eyes him curiously, deciding on if he should call him out on it. But Junhee’s ears are getting red, so he decides against it.

“Of course.” Is all he says instead. Junhee just nods and moves past him and out of the room.

He goes to his nightstand to turn on his lamp so he can read, taking notice in how his phone is plugged in. Huh. He’s pretty sure he left his phone in the kitchen. 

Twisting his head a bit, he looks over his shoulder at the closed bathroom door right across from their bedroom. Did he -

Maybe.

Probably. Unless phones can teleport.

Donghun huffs a little. What a nice guy. Too nice. He knows that Junhee wouldn’t fiddle around with his phone because, well, his code is actually a really hard one. Or well. Hard enough that Byeongkwan hasn’t gotten into it yet. So Junhee must’ve genuinely just brought his phone into the bedroom for him.

He purses his lips together, unplugging it for the time being and moving to settle on his bed as he unlocks his phone. It takes a moment for the screen to light up, his message box flashing with an unread text.

Byeongkwan. Of course. 

**(8:45 PM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**   
_u said ur roommates name was park junhee ye??_

Donghun quirks his eyebrows. He suddenly doesn’t like the concept of Byeongkwan knowing Junhee’s name.

**(8:47 PM) Donghun:**   
_If you actually went looking for him I swear to god,,,_

**(8:47 PM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**   
_so it is his name lmaooooo boi i got a treat for u_

**(8:56 PM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**  
__

**(4:45 PM) Donghun:**  
_Yes that is in fact my roommate good job for figuring it out I guess?_

He’s not sure what stresses him out more - the mere fact that Byeongkwan now knows what Junhee looks like or the fact that Byeongkwan is taking a while to reply. Both are terrifying concepts in their own right. 

**(8:55 PM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**  
_lmao get ready for this shit_


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyyy i finished before the 17th - that means this chapter is a bit early~ :')
> 
> Once October (and the dreaded) Halloween fic is over, updates should hopefully be a bit faster..I'm sorry for taking so long in between chapters :( I'm thankful for all the comments I get! They motivate me to write a bit faster. <3

The first thing Donghun does when he meets up with Byeongkwan and Sehyoon on Sunday is smack the back of Byeongkwan’s head. The sound rings out in the sleepy dining hall. The few people that are there turn to look at them sleepily, but ultimately turn back to their meals.

Byeongkwan just whines, moving to cup the back of his head. 

“What was that for?” He whines, turning to look at Donghun while he rubs his head. “What did I do? We didn't even talk for most of yesterday!”

“That -” Donghun starts, moving to sit on the opposite side of the other two; “- was for falling asleep on Thursday night, being busy Friday and not talking to me at all on Saturday.” He huffs.

Byeongkwan squints at him before bursting into some flustered giggles.

“I'm sorry, I didn't think you were that curious!” Byeongkwan says as he moves to rest his hands on the table in front of him.

“I'm not curious. I'm just mad that you left me on a cliffhanger.” Donghun huffs out, glancing upwards at the clock centered above the entrance of the dining hall. There's ten minutes left before the chefs can actually start serving them. The smell of the food so far is heavenly - he can't wait to actually eat it.

He thinks back to Junhee, sleeping in since he had no classes. Donghun had been tempted to wake him up and invite him, but had decided against it. The boy needed sleep because of how busy he was the rest of the week. Besides, Donghun didn’t want Junhee to see him smack the back of Byeongkwan’s head. It wouldn’t be a good impression to have. Not like he had a good impression to begin with but whatever.

The trio spent the last ten minutes just talking, Byeongkwan grinning at Donghun teasingly.

“Are you not going to tell me now?” Donghun asks.

“Oh hush, it’s not like the news is going anywhere.” Jason replies. “You survived two days, you can survive just a bit longer. I wanna eat before I gossip.”

“Is knowing who a person is considered gossip?” Sehyoon pipes up quizzically, looking over at Jason. “Or is it just gossip because you found it before everyone else?”

“A bit of both.”

Donghun snorts at that. Instead he chooses to turn his attention to counting down the time for the bell signifying that the food was ready to be served to ring. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen the moment the clock strikes ten - back when he was a freshman, college based movies made him believe everything happened at the exact moment it said it would.

This was untrue. Half the time, he could waltz up to his classes ten minutes late and the teacher still wouldn’t be there. At least, that was his experience. He knew that Sehyoon’s professors were sticklers on time and Byeongkwan’s just sometimes didn’t show up and let the teacher assistants due all their work.

Welcome to college, everyone.

The breakfast bell tolls dutifully at six past ten. No one gets up right away, but he could classify Sehyoon’s slow rise from the table as a fast departure for the food. Donghun decides to follow suit, intending to get up and make a beeline for the freshly baked goods.

Yet he feels a grip on his wrist suddenly. After the moment it takes to register the feeling, he catches Byeongkwan’s eyes. He casts a longing glance at the bakery station, then at Sehyoon’s fleeting back before sighing and sitting back down.

“What’s up?” Donghun asks.

“Ah - sorry, I just -” Byeongkwan replies in a hurry, quickly removing his hand. “I just - I had a question. That I can’t ask in front of Sehyoon. I don't want him to pick on me.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” He says. Donghun scopes out his face to see if it’s perhaps a joke, but doesn’t see any hint of jest in the younger's eyes. Instead he just lets out a vacant nod, to which Byeongkwan takes as a sign to continue talking. “So, can I ask you then? Since Sehyoon’s away right now?”

Donghun nods again.

“Okay. So you’ve been in a relationship before, right? Like one that’s lasted longer than a week?” He asks, hands fidgeting on the table in front of him. He doesn’t even both to wait for Donghun’s response. “Or well maybe at least a somewhat serious relationship? I don’t know how long it takes for those to develop.”

This is unexpected. Very unexpected. But it’s also fucking adorable. He can barely contain the small grin the appears on his face. If he were going to roast Byeongkwan, he’d coo at him first. He’ll let him live just this once though. So he just nods his head again, looking at Byeongkwan expectantly.

“Well, uh, how did you know?” He asks sheepishly. “How did you know that you wanted to try dating that person?”

Aw, sweet little Byeongkwan finally getting interested in relationships. Just last year he had talked about wanting to be a free spirit for a while.

“I’m not sure I’m the best person to ask about this.” Donghun says honestly. “I mean, me and my boyfriend were friends before we decided to try the whole dating scene out. I’d classify it as pretty serious seeing as we like, well.” He pauses. What did they do that made it so serious? “It just felt serious, you know? Like you could tell that the relationship was meant to be respected.”

Byeongkwan nods along as if he was absorbing all the information.

“I guess I could just tell that I wanted to try dating him. Nothing like ‘oh I’ll spend the rest of my life with him’ but more of a ‘I want to take him out on a proper date because he deserves it’ feeling. Does that make sense?” He asks.

“Kinda…” Byeongkwan hums. “I dunno. Relationships are weird.”

“Yeah they are.”

Byeongkwan just smiles. “You can go get your breakfast now. I’ll save the table.”

Donghun stares at him for a few moments, huffing out a quiet laugh. 

“You owe me all the dirt you have on Junhee now, you know that?”

Byeongkwan’s smile just gets wider.

“It’s a price I’m willing to pay.”

With that said and done, Donghun slides out of his chair and walks over to the bakery area to snatch up some toast. The simple process of gathering breakfast foods allows his mind to wander; particularly wandering over to a certain boy who was fast asleep and nestled in his blankets when he left.

What was the dirt on Junhee? His first thought had been that Junhee’s parents were drug dealers. His paranoia let him reach that point because, well, Byeongkwan choosing that specific moment to doze off was a horrible decision.

But no, they couldn’t be drug dealers. Junhee said that they’d have important guests over sometimes. Maybe they’re in the movie industry - it’d make sense for Junhee to want to go into it then. Especially with so many classes to juggle. Part of him hopes it’s something ridiculous, like Junhee getting rich because of those weird ‘as seen on tv’ commercials. Imaging Junhee trying to pitch an egg slicer to him is something he can totally see happening.

Then his thoughts wander over to Latte. He had made sure to set an alarm on his computer to hopefully wake Junhee up. The cat has to be fed, after all. 

Latte seems important. 

He can’t pinpoint why.

He stews on his thoughts as he shuffles around the different counters to collect his breakfast, deciding to pick up a tray after he stops for a bowl of soup. He knows the other two will make fun of him for getting soup but soup is a fucking delicious breakfast, okay?

It isn’t until he spies Byeongkwan starting to creep around the counters that he decides he should head back to keep Sehyoon company.

By the time he gets back to the table, he’s content with sitting down and not sharing a word with Sehyoon. They were both quiet people in the morning. Sehyoon was happy with slicing into some french toast and he was happy with digging into his soup.

The silence doesn’t last that long, however, because soon Byeongkwan is flopping back into his chair with a stack of waffles and eggs and basically anything that Byeongkwan can try to argue as ‘dancing fuel’.

“Should we get down to the news? The news that Donghun so viciously beat me up over?” He asks, waving a fork at Donghun menacingly.

“It was one slap -”

“Best not tease him, Byeongkwan.” Sehyoon mumbles around a mouthful of food. “Otherwise your face is getting slammed into those waffles. Can’t risk destroying the waffles, after all.”

Byeongkwan frowns, making a sad little noise.

“Anyways. We all know how Junhee is apparently rich as fuck, right?” Byeongkwan asks. “So I went hunting on Twitter and Instagram and found him. Turns out we got a mutual friend on Twitter or some shit like that. He retweets a lot of dumb cat videos and I wasn’t too sure it was the Junhee I was looking for but he linked an Instagram account on the side and, well, boom. Pictures of Junhee.”

“So you stalked him.”

“It’s not stalking if he’s easy to find.” Byeongkwan reasons. “So I’m scrolling through and bam, there’s a photo of him and his parents in 2013. It was them at some big event and it had him and these girls and what I’m assuming are his parents standing all nice and pretty in front of a big banner.”

“Uh huh. This is interesting, how?” Donghun asks, rolling his eyes.

“I’m getting there!” The younger hushes. “So me being a genius, I decided to google what I could read on the banner and boom, Quasi Automotive and Insignia Electronics.”

Donghun stares at him for a long moment, trying to piece everything together. When it’s obvious that none of this is clicking, Byeongkwan stares at him incredulously.

“Park Byung-hun is the CEO of Quasi Automotive. Park Hye-mi is the CEO of Insignia Electronics. Park Junhee is their youngest kid.” Byeongkwan explains. “His family is the -” He starts to explain.

“The family that tried to sue each other a few years ago?” Sehyoon cuts in, tilting his head to the side. 

Byeongkwan just nods eagerly.

“The - the family that tried to sue each other?” The words leave his mouth before he can really process what they mean. Suing each other doesn't make any sense - especially if you're a family. 

“You don’t know?” Byeongkwan asks, to which Donghun shakes his head. “Oh, story time, then.”

“Can I tell it? I feel like you might get carried away with some details.” Sehyoon asks. Byeongkwan pouts at him for a moment before shrugging his shoulders in defeat.

“Thank you. Anyways, one day in late 2013, news broke out that two CEOs were getting sued by their own kids. No one knew who it was at first until a reporter finally got some intel that it was none other than Park Byung-hun and his wife. Their kids; two older sisters and Junhee, had apparently filed a claim to startup the whole process of suing their parents.” Sehyoon says. “In my part of town, it caused quite a stir because you rarely hear of rich kids actively trying to, you know, sue their parents.”

“But why were they trying to sue them?” Donghun questions.

“No one knows the exact reason. Some say money, others say that they wanted to tarnish their parent’s reputation. All that people knew was that the family had gotten into a big argument a few days before the news started circulating. That was what a neighbor had reported - a loud screaming match.” He shrugs, stirring his straw around in his drink.

“Who won the case, then?” 

“That’s what is interesting about this!” Byeongkwan chimes in. He looks over at Sehyoon, smiling apologetically. “The case never went through. A lot of people concluded that their parents paid off the court to drop the case. Everything was silent in that household for a few months until the 2014 model of Quasi’s new car was released. Thus the press photos started again. Except this time, none of the kids were present.”

“So there was definitely a rift caused after all that, then.” Donghun mumbled quietly, staring down at his half empty soup bowl. It was a lot to process - Junhee being the son of two rich CEOs and being a part of apparently a big court case that was suspiciously shut down. And Donghun hadn't heard about any of it.

“I never thought about that case much.” Sehyoon says thoughtfully. “But what year is Junhee? I can’t remember if you told us.”

“A junior.”

“Ah. So if he’s a junior…” Sehyoon trails off. 

“What?”

“Well, he would’ve had to have started sometime in 2014, right? You would assume that he’d go into electronics or something related to that since that’s what he’s been around his whole life. It all seems very convenient that he’s at an art school, presumably starting in 2014, after the court case against his parents gets shut down.” He hums, shrugging. “Or maybe we’re probing too far into it.”

Maybe? More like most likely. Some part of him thinks that Sehyoon’s hypothesis holds at least some truth to it; yet it’s ridiculous to think that Junhee would choose an art school just to escape his parents. Making it big in art school is a hit or a miss with everyone. 

Junhee, who seems to be quite familiarized with living a rich life style, can’t afford to fail in a career. Especially if he’s potentially living without the help of his parent’s money. 

Still, it’s not polite to make up theories about another person.

“Perhaps you are probing too far.” Donghun offers. “Whether it’s true or not, be respectful. Even if everything you said is right or wrong, the court case still happened. I’m sure Junhee has his reasons.”

“You’re really protective of him now, aren’t you?” Byeongkwan asks. “If we had told you this last week, you’d be ready to call him out.”

“I would not. Even if you did tell me this last week, it’s none of my business.”

Byeongkwan just lets out a slight ‘mhm’ at that, obviously not believing Donghun. Donghun isn’t too sure if he believes himself, either. A large part of him agrees with Byeongkwan. He would have most certainly called Junhee out over it. Knowing him, he’d throw in something about rich kid privilege. 

What a mess that would’ve been.

The topic of Junhee is dropped shortly afterwards, the other two favoring pulling up conversations about what the three of them should do for the short time that they have together. Byeongkwan has a job interview at two thirty and Sehyoon doesn’t have to go into work until eight at night. It’s also laundry day for the two, though. 

He knows how brutal it can get to fight over a washing machine at the dorms. Maybe he’ll make an excuse to make sure that Sehyoon gets home at three so he can get down to the laundry room. It tends to fill up near the end of the day - seeing that it closes at five on weekends.

(He thinks that closing at five on a weekend is a terrible idea - but hey, he can’t change it. Might as well go with the flow.)

Byeongkwan carries the conversation for the most part - he’s arguably the most talkative out of the three of them. He just gets louder when Yuchan is with them. 

For a few moments, Donghun considers calling Yuchan and waking him up. It’d be nice to have four of them go out and about today - mainly because the two love sick roommates will keep stealing glances at each other. Donghun doesn’t want to suffer through that alone.

But he won’t call Yuchan. Yuchan deserves to sleep. He also doesn’t deserve to get stuck watching the definition of ‘tip-toe around each other’ come to life through two of his friends. So Donghun will take one for the team and watch it all unfold and quietly soak in his single relationship as much as possible.

“I guess Donghun decided to tune me out again.” Byeongkwan’s voice cuts through Donghun’s relative peace. “How sad.”

“I’d tune you out too if I could.” Sehyoon sighs. “That way I wouldn’t have to listen to you play video games at four in the morning.”

“Don’t judge my life choices!”

Donghun just lets out a laugh, shaking his head. “Sorry, I was thinking about stuff.”

“What kinda stuff?” Byeongkwan asks, leaning in curiously.

“Adult things.” Donghun says, pausing and letting out a snort. “Boring adult things. Like...uh. How I have to go shopping today and...I’m inviting Junhee to go with me.” He lies. “But what were you saying?”

“Hmph. Shopping is more important than my brilliant plan for what we’ll do today?” Byeongkwan says, pouting.

“Nah. Unless it’s lame, then yeah.”

Byeongkwan just pouts more before crossing his arms and tutting. 

“I was saying that we could go to the movies and pig out on candy and popcorn since today is the cheat day for our workouts.” Byeongkwan explains.

“We haven’t even started our workout schedule yet.” Sehyoon points out. “So why call it a cheat day?”

“To get us motivated to workout!” Byeongkwan whines, scrunching up his face. “It’ll get me motivated, at least.” He mutters to no one in particular.

Donghun decides to take mercy on him for once.

“Let him call it a cheat day if it gets him motivated.” He chides lightly, smiling at Byeongkwan. “I’m fine with going to the movies under two conditions.”

Byeongkwan just makes a small, questioning noise.

“One, you pay for the snacks. Two, me and Sehyoon choose the movie. I’ll pay for the tickets” He states simply, smiling even wider at Byeongkwan’s disgruntled face as he tries to figure out if it’s a fair deal or not. “We’ll make sure that it’s either a movie that is so bad that it’s good or one that we know you’ll like.” He throws in.

The youngest presses his lips together in a fine line before sighing. “Fine, but you can’t ask for the really expensive snacks!” 

“Deal.” Sehyoon and Donghun say in unison. A small glance at each other sends them into a small fit of giggles.

It doesn’t take long for them to leave the dining hall. Once it becomes a bit too populated and noisy, they make their exit. Donghun is polite enough to offer to drive them to the cinema. Of course he regrets it when it actually happens because, well, Byeongkwan and Sehyoon got into a petty fight over who got the aux cord on the way there.

Donghun didn’t even bother to offer his selection of music, the other two didn’t care much for ballads like he did.

It ends up boiling down to Sehyoon getting the aux cord on the way there. Which means Byeongkwan will get it on the way back. 

Oh well. Listening to their music helps him try to figure out what song he should do for his assignment. He wonders if he should remind Junhee about it. 

If the other doesn’t say anything tonight, he’ll remind him tomorrow.

Aside from the music playing, the car ride to the cinema is filled with ridiculous ‘what if’ scenarios. Donghun tries to answer them as seriously as possible, but as soon as Byeongkwan poses the question of; ‘What if horses had jaws like a dog does?’, the whole car loses it. Donghun considers it a miracle that he was able to properly park once they got to their destination.

The horrors of a dog faced horse haunt his mind as he clambers out of the car. Judging by the distressed look on Sehyoon’s face when they start walking towards the cinema building, Sehyoon’s just as haunted.

It ends up being fairly simple to pick out a movie - or, well, simple in the case that all the movies were downright awful. With summer dying down and autumn starting to turn the air crisp, all the horrible b-rated horror movies had started to crawl out of all the nooks and crannies of the movie industry.

And how fun it was to choose. 

He and Sehyoon end up agreeing on a movie rather easily - mainly because it looked absolutely horrid. Donghun is kind enough to go purchase the tickets without telling Byeongkwan which movie they were seeing. If anything, he was excited to see if it would actually scare any of them.

Plus he gets to choose three candies before going into the theater instead of two like he normally would. This is purely because Byeongkwan is paying.

The first sign of a bad movie is getting a theater to yourselves. Byeongkwan seems to have caught onto the shenanigans they’re pulling when the first ad that runs is about dish soap. 

The second sign of a bad movie is when the title looks like it had been done in a shitty paint program. That and the fact that the music sounds like it came from a free sampler site. 

Oh they were in for a treat today. 

It ends up being so awful that it’s good. Within the first fifteen minutes, Byeongkwan had mercilessly torn down the murderer and their methods. Sehyoon had laughed at the first murder - an iconic (yet cliche) killing in the woods. 

If anything, they could’ve and should’ve made a drinking game out of it. The movie doesn’t even seem boring with the stupid shit it has going on in it. They all lose their minds about halfway through when it turns out that the murderer is half ghost. 

That ghost reveal has Donghun and Sehyoon howling louder than Byeongkwan. He’s never been more thankful that they’re the only ones in the theater.

The movie draws to a close nearly two hours later with an anticlimactic drone shot of the murderer waltzing back into the woods. In a way, this was disgustingly satisfying.

“There was nothing scary about it at all!” Byeongkwan croons, waving an empty box of chocolate in the dark theater. “The special effects looked like jelly!”

“Mhm!” Donghun agrees cheerily. “And the whole ghost subplot -“

“Was stupid as shit!” Sehyoon laughs, rising from his seat. “I hope they make a sequel, I’m oddly dedicated to this stupid murderer now. At least his acting was good!”

“But I assume that his pay wasn’t.” Byeongkwan laughs.

Ah, the movies was always so fun with these two. Both the good and the bad. But alas, all good things must come to an end; they’re shuffling out of the theater mere minutes later, Donghun checking his phone right away.

“Ah, Byeong.” He hums as they walk towards the lobby of the cinema. “Where’s your job interview at?”

“The City Square Mall - mainly the Crown Amusement Park. Why?”

“Oh, the indoor park? Nice.” Donghun muses, sliding his phone into his pocket. “It’s one forty - you said it was at two thirty, right? Want me to drive you?”

“Ah...yeah. A ride would be nice.” Byeongkwan says with a nod. “Do my clothes look nice enough for an interview, though?”

“Did they say that they wanted you to dress up nicely?” Sehyoon questions, going to hold the door open for them.

“They said to look as presentable as possible - I mean. I’m not in sweats so-“ Byeongkwan pauses.

“You’re fine.” Donghun reassures. “At least it’s not a fancy restaurant or anything.”

Byeongkwan seems to accept that statement. He just makes a little ‘ah’ sound as he follows them out of the cinema. 

When they get into Donghun’s car, Byeongkwan is more than happy to snatch up the aux cord. This car drive ends up being quieter, the three of them all busy. Byeongkwan is fixing up his hair in the backseat. Sehyoon is quietly scrolling through his phone.

And Donghun is making sure that none of them fucking die.

Safe to say, he completes his job. He pulls into the parking lot of the mall, moving to drop Byeongkwan off in front of the mall’s entrance. He and Sehyoon offer their little mantras of good luck as he climbs out of the vehicle. Donghun waits long enough to see the other make it to the sliding glass doors before pulling away and driving off. 

“Is he going to need a ride home?” Donghun asks after he exits the parking lot, setting his sights on finally going back to the university.

“Nah. He’ll take the bus probably.” Sehyoon hums in reply.

“Maybe you should invest in a car so you can pick him up.” Donghun says with a teasing tone in his voice. “It’d make a good opportunity to see how well you two would work as a couple.”

Ah, that gets Sehyoon to start coughing and sputtering. 

“Donghun!” The other wheezes, quickly trying to regain his composure. “I wouldn’t - why would you - there’s no way that -” Sehyoon stumbles out. Out of his peripheral vision, he can see Sehyoon about three seconds away from losing his mind. 

“Oh hush, you act like you haven’t thought about it.”

“I haven’t!” Sehyoon whines out, surprisingly pathetic compared to how chill the other usually is. “Besides he and I are just -”

“Extremely compatible? Yeah I know.” Donghun teases. “But seriously, there is no better way to tell if you’d survive dating someone than getting in a car and just driving somewhere with them for an extended period of time.”

“Is that what you did with your ex?”

“Don’t bring him into this.” Donghun scolds lightly. “But yes.”

Sehyoon just huffs, muttering something about how he doesn’t even need to worry about seeing if they’d be compatible.

“It’s not like I plan to date him or anything.” The other says randomly, a bit later into their drive home. “You and I are graduating this year, I don’t want to risk...y’know.”

“Hm?”

“Risk...messing it up?” Sehyoon himself sounds unsure. “What if I do date him and, well, get a job somewhere far away from the school?”

“Long distance relationships are much easier these days.” Is the only thing he can really come up with. It's not a wrong assessment - video calls and social media just make things so much more convenient. Of course he had those when he was still in the dating game, but he didn't really see the importance of using them at the time. Christ, he makes himself sound ancient. 

“But would I be good in a long distance relationship? Would he? Hell I doubt he even likes me. If anything, he’d probably go after one of the kids in his dance class, that makes more sense than him dating a composer.” Sehyoon mumbles.

“How do you know if you don’t try it out at least once?” Donghun hums, sparing a glance at the other. “And you can dance too, so it’s not too weird. Besides, since when did the classes you take matter in terms of dating?”

“Well it gives you a similar interest -”

“Fair.” Donghun assents. “But if you share every interest, it becomes boring, there’s nothing to talk about.” 

He should know. His boyfriend had been interested in a lot of the things he had been. The conversations became dull because they were always caught up on the latest news and his ex had hated debating so he would just agree with whatever Donghun had to say. So in his mind, it made sense to have different interests for the sake of conversation.

“I...guess.” Sehyoon says after a few moments. “I dunno. I feel like living with him has proved that we’d be compatible.”

“Mm.” He hums. “I’m just glad you’re not denying your crush anymore.” 

“It’s too tiring to deny something that can’t be avoided.” The younger says, leaning up against the glass.

The rest of the car ride is quiet.

After dropping Sehyoon off by the dorms, he returns to the apartment complex with a sense of relief. Though it falls flat when he remembers the shopping trip he had mentioned. He doesn’t necessarily have to do it but saving it for the last moment could be problematic.

He doesn’t want to have to live off of saltines again. He won’t let that happen to him.

The time is just a few minutes shy of three thirty as he lets himself back into the apartment. It’s rather quiet still, so he’s stuck wondering if Junhee had missed the alarm he’d set.

There’s a small hint of relief when music can be heard faintly playing from the bathroom, some soulful song leaking it’s way into the living room. He toes off his shoes, tucking them by the small pile they had. 

He’s not quite sure what he expects when he sees the bathroom light on, but the doors open. So he glances casually in, ready to turn his head if the other wasn’t dressed.

Nah. He’s dressed.

But he is currently brushing Latte’s teeth.

“Uh.” Donghun starts, apparently startling Junhee.

“Oh!” The other says, looking over at Donghun and breaking into a relieved smile. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.” He breathes out, a small laugh escaping his throat.

“Sorry. I just didn’t expect to see you -” He doesn’t finish the sentence, choosing to vaguely motion at Latte.

“Oh, well. Yeah.” Junhee hums, casting a glance over to Latte. “I guess it’d be weird to walk in and see this. But uh, yeah. I was petting her earlier and she yawned in my face and it smelled absolutely terrible. So I figured that a teeth cleaning session was in order.” He explains, as if the explanation made things less weird.

Which it didn’t. Donghun can’t help but squint at him a bit. Was this really the kid of two rich CEOs? He couldn’t really see that being true. Junhee was from a rich family for sure. Yet he can’t imagine him with a stuffy family. An eccentric one, maybe. One that collects weird glass animal figures. Or makes them. Or both.

But not parents that are in the electronics and automotive industries. 

He startles Junhee by laughing, but in turn startles himself when Junhee quirks an eyebrow.

“Sorry, sorry.” Donghun says after a moment. “I just really didn’t think anyone took their cats hygiene that seriously.” He lies, pushing away the thoughts of Junhee’s parents.

“It benefits everyone. You’ll be thanking me when she decided to breathe all over you.” Junhee quips, but there’s no anger to it. Just a little hint of ‘you’ll see what I mean’. It’s a tone that Byeongkwan and Sehyoon often take up with him when he criticizes something.

He’s not happy that he can recognize that tone. 

“I’ll take your word for it, then.” He says after a while, once Junhee has returned to brushing Latte’s teeth. “Did you buy that toothbrush specifically for her?”

“Mhm.”

“Ah. Interesting.” Donghun responds, smile quirking at the corners of his mouth. He’s never seen someone so disgustingly dedicated to a pet before. Not including the koi fish in the schools pond that Sehyoon religious fed. “Oh, I have a question for you.”

“What’s up?” The other asks, sparing another glance at him as he goes to rinse of Latte’s brush, slipping it back into a plastic bag and tucking it into the lowest drawer on the sink counter. 

“I decided that we should do some shopping for our apartment. Food wise and stuff. I forgot how fast food goes with two people.” He pauses then. He knows that he had made a lie about going with Junhee just to avoid how he was tuning Byeongkwan out. Yet now he feels like he has to commit, like Byeongkwan might call him out if he or Sehyoon sees Junhee anywhere on campus in the next few hours. “Would you, uh, like to come with me? Just so you can choose what you want to eat?”

Junhee surveys him quietly for a moment, allowing Latte to hop off the counter and run out of the bathroom, squeezing between Donghun and the doorframe in her escape.

“Sure?” Junhee says questioningly. “If you’re fine with me going.”

“I wouldn’t ask you if I wasn’t.”

“Oh. Then -” Junhee breaks into an awkward laugh. “ - sure. Sure I’ll come. Let me get changed first.”

“Alright.” Donghun says. “I’ll be in the living room.”

He doesn’t wait for another response as he turns and returns to the living room. Latte has made herself comfortable on the back of the couch, raising her head to peer at Donghun when he enters. He must not be that important to her, because she returns to sprawling out. 

Why does he feel like he just got ignored by a cat?

She certainly doesn’t ignore Junhee when he walks out into the living room a few minutes later. In fact, she makes it a point to look over in his direction and meow loudly.

“Shhh. I know you’re mad at me over brushing your teeth.” Junhee chides lightly. “I won’t bother you for awhile, okay?”

Latte doesn’t understand what he’s saying, yet Junhee seems so sincere with her. It makes Donghun wonder just how socially isolated the other is. He decides that he doesn’t want to think about that whole mess, instead going to slip on his shoes and open the door. Junhee takes notice and follows suit, slipping his phone into his pocket and wishing a farewell to Latte.

The farewell is quiet though, since the door is open. Perhaps he’s paranoid that someone out in the hallway will hear.

They make their way to the elevator a few moments later, and Donghun is stuck with the realization that this is really the first time he’s seeing Junhee outside of the apartment while they’re on neutral terms.

It’s an odd feeling, being on neutral terms with someone. He feels like he’s walking a fine line of being liked or hated. The best way he can describe it is going into a test after only studying for one day after procrastinating for three weeks.

Yeah, that’s how it feels.

If he decided to be honest with himself, he felt awkward with Junhee still. But the other made no indication of being awkward with him, so he should try to stop feeling like that. 

“You have a nice car.” Junhee says, nodding approvingly at it later as they walk towards it. 

“Oh, thanks.” Donghun grins, feeling a little proud. “I saved up a lot for it.” 

He won’t mention how he managed to pay for it mostly because of the money he’d get on his birthday. That’s a little too braggy for him.

“What about you? What kind of car do you have?” He asks as he unlocks the car and climbs into the driver’s seat. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention it.”

Junhee is silent for a moment, pursing his lips together as he buckles up. “I don’t have one, unfortunately.”

Oh.

Wait - what?

“You don’t have a car?” He asks incredulously. In that moment he almost forgets that he’s supposed to be starting the car and driving, but part of his doesn’t want to. He wants to find out how the hell this guy has survived college without a car.

Still, he puts the key in the ignition deftly.

“Nope.” Junhee says, seemingly unaware of how weird the statement was. 

Donghun decides to leave it at that, fearing that he might crash if he continues the conversation. 

He comes to the realization, perhaps a bit belatedly, that the store they’re going to is the one that Sehyoon works at. A nervous ball knots up in his stomach as he checks the time on the dashboard, only relaxing when he remembers that Sehyoon is working the night shift tonight.

Whew.

Relative peace returns to his mind after that rush of panic, but the silence in the car eats away at him. Junhee seems content with looking out the window, surveying the streets and buildings as they drive past.

“Right, you’re new to this city, huh?” Donghun says after a few silent minutes, chewing on his lips nervously as they come up to a red light. “What do you think of it so far?”

“Nice.” Junhee says. “It’s nice. It’s not like my hometown.”

“Mm. Is your hometown really different?”

“Bigger houses.” Junhee says blandly. A hint of distaste floats heavily in the air. “Less apartments.” He continues. Donghun can see him gesture to a long strip of apartments as the light turns green.

“Yeah, this is a big university city. Apartments are more convenient.” Donghun reasons. “What was your town like?”

“Boring.” Junhee all but spits out before clearing his throat. “Quiet. Full of old people and entitled teenagers with no college or university within a twenty mile radius. Had to take a public bus to school every day because it was over ten miles away.” He adds on, as if that's supposed to correct the toxicity he had first used. 

Well that sounds miserable. 

“That just makes it even stranger that you don’t have a car.” Donghun settles on after a moment.

“Dad gave me a limited option of the cars I could choose from. I didn’t want any of them so he didn’t let me get one.” Junhee says as if it’s a normal occurrence.

“Well you’d think that your dad would take your opinion into account -”

“Not really.” He says, picking at the hem of his shirt as Donghun turns down onto one of the busier streets. “He and I never talked much. Me and mom didn’t either. Well - not about normal things. We talked about business a lot.”

“So no casual dinner conversations about your grades or your interests?” Donghun asks. Such a concept isn’t that unfamiliar to him. As far as he can tell, Sehyoon’s parents were pretty similar - Sehyoon just wore them down after a while by just not talking in general. In Sehyoon's family, it had gotten to the point where his family had wanted him to talk. 

“It was always business. All that mattered was business. How were the stocks doing? Am I interested in seeing what mom or dad does? Can you promote us on your social media? As if they needed any of that -” Junhee stops, collecting himself. “It’s fine, though. I still talked about things other than that anyways. I like to think that they heard me.”

“Just chose not to answer.” 

“Mhm, I suppose you can say that.” Junhee mumbles.

“They sound like miserable people in my opinion.” Donghun says lightly. In a way, his hypothesis of Junhee going through his rebellious phase suddenly seems much more likely now. 

“I doubt you’d say that if you knew who they were.”

Ah, but he did know. Not that Junhee needed to know that. So he just bites the tip of his tongue and navigates the city streets, allowing silence to loom over them until he offers Junhee the aux cord.

That alone seems to brighten the others mood up significantly.

Small steps, Donghun tells himself. Small steps. 

It isn’t until they’re actually walking up towards the store’s entrance ten minutes later that Junhee looks over at him. 

“Sorry for uh -” He starts, pausing. “For uhm. Bringing the mood down in the car?”

“You didn’t.” Donghun says. “You ranted, that was all. I’d rant too if I were in that position.”

“But it was a miserable conversation -”

“I’m a miserable person.”

Junhee stops at that, looking at Donghun pointedly before resuming his walk to keep up with the other. 

“I don’t think you are.” Junhee says. He almost sounds honest. Or maybe he is. Bah, why does Donghun care? It doesn’t matter what Junhee says he is. It doesn’t change the fact that he was a huge sack of shit towards the other just last week. 

Donghun forces down the smile that he could feel playing at his lips. Instead he busies himself with grabbing a cart once they’re inside.

“Is there anything specific you want or need? I’m picking up chips.” Donghun says, deciding that it’s best to leave their old conversation behind them.

“Bread.” Is the near immediate response. “I like to have toast with my breakfast.” 

“Alright. So we’ll stop by the bread aisle first, then go to the chips and snack aisles and -”

“The deli and vegetable aisles?” Junhee pitches in. “Ah - sorry for interrupting.”

“No worries. We can go there after the snack aisle and then…coffee.”

“Coffee.” Junhee repeats, smiling. “You really are a college kid.”

“So are you, I saw you nearly cry over the instant oatmeal not cooking properly yesterday.” Donghun laughs, light and airy. 

“Shut -” His own sentence is cut off with a fit of giggles. “- Shut up! You’d cry too!” 

Donghun just smiles and hums pleasantly, turning in the direction of the bread aisle. 

One thing he learns is that Junhee is very, very picky with his bread. In a way, Donghun wishes that he had the same amount of dedication towards making life decisions. Hell, Junhee is reading the labels on the bread. The labels.

Finally one seems suitable enough for him to plop it into the cart. They share a short nod at each other and move on to the chip aisle - in which Donghun gets a little too happy at the three for one deal on barbeque potato chips. Though he doesn’t have to do a walk of shame to the cart since Junhee had wandered off to the snack aisle early.

Ultimately, Junhee can’t judge him because he comes back with a box of gummy worms. Just a whole damn box. But when Donghun looks down at the chips and then back at him, he discovers he can’t judge Junhee either.

Stalemate.

So before they decide to go and dump any other junk food into the cart, Donghun whisks them off towards the deli and the vegetables.

“I want to pick up some bell peppers and stuff.” He says, catching Junhee’s attention as the cart rolls to a stop. 

“Ah, alright! I’m going to see what deals they have on some of the cuts.” He grins, nodding his head in the direction of the deli counter. “Any specific thing you want?”

“See how much the turkey slices cost, please.”

“Other than turkey sandwiches, what can we do with those?”

“Who knows. One night we might walk in on one another just shoving a slice of turkey into our mouths like a damn criminal at three in the morning.” It’s mostly a joke. Mostly. Not really. 

He’s seen some terrifying shit the few times he stayed over at Byeongkwan and Sehyoon’s dorm. Except all they had was a mini fridge.

There is something deeply primal about seeing Sehyoon absolutely tear into leftover McDonald’s in the middle of the night. The Snapchat story that came out of that encounter was worth the fear though. 

Junhee just stares at him, blinking owlishly.

“That sounds horrifying but okay.” The response is joined by a smile either way. So Donghun will assume that he hasn’t scared the other away. He just waves him off, turning his attention towards the vegetables.

Everything feels weird today. Really, the last few days have been weird. Maybe it’s the startling shift of their dynamic. Maybe it’s the fact that Junhee isn’t that bad of a person and this feeling is further rubbing it in his face that he’s a gigantic asshole. Both are plausible. Both are likely. 

God, he can’t help but feel like shit after he’d been so, well, shitty towards Junhee.

Junhee, by all accounts, should have ended up like him. Distant and unwilling to reach out to anyone or anything that didn't fit into the skeletal outline of his imminent future. Yet Junhee was there, boldly, in a manner almost affection starved. A stark and bleak scream of 'I'm here!' compared to Donghun's whisper of 'Don't bother me.' 

Junhee was ever present, talking to his cat because he liked to believe Latte could understand him.

He was forcing his way into Donghun's little bubble of comfort, talking to him because for once, someone was talking back.

And it's depressing. Depressing because in the beginning, Donghun's comments were aimed to kill; aimed to choke out the conversation. 

But Junhee had long since learned to talk, even if the conversation has fallen on deaf ears.

He didn’t keep trying because he wanted to be friends. He kept doing it because it was something he was used to doing. 

And the thought hurts Donghun a bit, though he'll never admit it. Imagining loud, talkative Junhee - who seemed happy to get even the most exhausted sigh as a response - get no response at all.

_'It was always business. All that mattered was business.'_

The comment rings out in Donghun's head as he watches Junhee compare two different cuts of meat at the deli a few meters ahead of him. Perhaps, Donghun thinks, it wouldn't hurt to let Junhee in. Just a bit.

(Just enough so it doesn't leave Donghun with a weird lump in his throat.)

Donghun clears his throat, ducking his head down to look at the colorful spread of vegetables before him. He doesn’t think they even need vegetables, they still had some in the fridge at home. Still he finds himself bagging up some nearby tomatoes and bell peppers that way he doesn’t look like he was standing around like a fool.

Junhee returns shortly with two different parcels of meat. Donghun raises an eyebrow at him, but let’s him put them in the cart anyway.

“They were having a deal.” Junhee says apologetically. “One of the cuts is the one I use for Latte’s food and the other is the turkey you wanted so I just -“

“It’s fine.” Donghun says. “Gotta keep both us and the cat fed, right?”

Junhee just nods.

“And don’t worry about paying for all this.” Donghun continues, gesturing to the cart. “We’ll take turns paying for groceries - I’ll pay for them this time around.”

“Oh..” Junhee trails off, looking unsure. “Are you sure? I don’t mind paying first.”

“Hush.” He replies moving to push the cart away towards the coffee aisle. “I want to pay for you.”

“But why?”

“Because I’m your senior and you’re a transfer student.” He says simply. “I don’t want you spending money on groceries in the first few weeks of school. Your teachers are going to drop a bombshell worth of stuff that you’ll need for your classes, and unless you’re a bargain hunter, some of that stuff will be expensive.”

He can feel the other’s gaze on his back as he strides ahead of him. When he hears Junhee let out a little laugh, he can’t help but grin in triumph.

“Okay!” Junhee says, quickly catching up to walk next to Donghun. “That sounds fair - thank you.”

“Mhm.” Is all he replies as he turns down the coffee aisle. “I’m going to pick out coffee, if there’s anything else you want or need from another aisle, go get it while I’m here.”

He hardly gets to finish that sentence before Junhee is twirling around and speed walking to another aisle. He can’t help but huff out a laugh. Junhee’s like a little kid sometimes.

Donghun’s barely heading to the entrance of the aisle as Junhee returns with a box of cat litter tucked under one arm and his hands holding an eight pack of strawberry yogurt like his life depends on it.

“Somehow, in the first few days of school, you’ve reached peak college student.” Donghun laughs, moving to take the yogurt from Junhee’s hands and placing it in the cart. “How are you going to get the cat litter in though?”

“Oh, well.” Junhee starts as he manhandles the box into the cart. “I haven’t figured that out yet.” 

“Hm.” He hums, tapping his foot as he thinks. “I have one of those cloth tote bags that some stores give you, we can put the litter at the bottom and then stack everything up over it. I doubt a RA - or anyone, really - would stop and question groceries.”

Junhee just nods. 

“You seem on board with the whole, uh, keeping Latte a secret plan.” Junhee says after a few seconds. “I appreciate it.”

Donghun tsks. He’s not on board with the whole idea, he just dreads getting caught. Plus he doesn’t want the school to get absolutely fucked over if Junhee gets in trouble. The whole family situation that Byeongkwan told him about seems messy, but it’d be embarrassing to see their youngest get expelled over a cat. 

That family would take the school's reputation down with it. He’s simply trying to make sure that it doesn’t happen.

“Yeah, well, don’t think this means I like her or anything. I just don’t want to see you get written up.” Donghun huffs. He assumes that Junhee takes no offense, seeing as he makes a noise of agreement at Donghun’s comment. He thinks he hears Junhee say something quietly under his breath, but he chooses to ignore it.

Instead he confirms that they have everything they need before moving to go check out at the register. He’s extra vigilant, paranoid of Sehyoon suddenly walking in for a random shift. No - he had today off. Wait no. He had the night shift. It’s only four fifteen in the afternoon; Donghun’s worrying over nothing.

Junhee is busy with loading things onto the counter to get them checked out and Donghun’s going through a stress inducing crisis over the fear of his friend busting through the automatic doors and seeing him with Junhee.

There really has to be a way to stop the stress and panic response that he gets whenever he’s with Junhee. It’s not good for his health.

Somehow he gets through the whole checkout process without absolutely losing his mind. Junhee is polite enough to carry all their bags. Granted, there’s only two or three bags - but he for some reason imagined that Junhee wouldn’t be able to carry multiple groceries - especially one with cat litter in it.

He expected Junhee to be weak. Then again, the other’s parents seemed keen on making him the lackey of the family.

He thinks back to the scandal, to the court case. 

What was Junhee’s family exactly like?

Donghun glances at the other as they walk back out to his parked car. Junhee catches him staring and smiles. Begrudgingly, Donghun smiles back.

“You want to cook dinner tonight?” He asks as he fumbles around with his key, clicking it twice to unlock the car and pop the trunk. “I was thinking that it’d only be fair if we trade off every few nights.”

Junhee looks ecstatic. 

“I’d love to!” Junhee says, smile brightening. “I’m really good at cooking - what do you want? Pan seared fish? Noodles? Salad? Steak -”

Donghun stares at him as Junhee hands over the bags. As soon as everything is in the trunk and settled, he lets out a long laugh.

“You’re so eager to cook!” Donghun beams after a moment, waving Junhee off to the other side of the car. “Cook what you’re the most confident in - surprise me. If it’s good, I’ll just make you cook more often.” He laughs, moving to open the driver’s door and get in.

Junhee laughs back, high and lofty as he clambers in. 

The happy mood lingers as they fasten their seat belts and drive out of the parking lot.

Tonight is good. It feels good.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm backkkkkkkkkk after....almost two months with no updates. Whoops. The Halloween fic took more out of me than it probably should've. But! I'm back! Updates will hopefully be more frequent from now on.
> 
> Song that Donghun sings in this chapter: [Breath by Nell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqpNO_hLzm8)  
> Song that Junhee sings in this chapter: [October's Weather by 10cm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipkOZpjpnII)

That week passes by rather uneventfully. He discovers that Junhee is a pretty decent cook. He also finally makes a noise complaint about Junhee’s dumbass bird and nature sounds. It was their first ‘argument’ in the time since they started being decent towards each other. It wasn’t an aggressive one, though, just a few passive aggressive remarks that ultimately turns into an insult challenge.

Which resulted in laughter.

So really, nothing much came of that. Junhee did start using headphones from then on, though.

Really, the most startling thing that has happened in the last week is the fact that he is awake right now. Sleepily, he feels around under his pillows for his phone, pulling it out and squinting through the blinding light to look at the time.

5:13. 

They don’t even have to start heading to class until six thirty if they want to get there at seven. If anything, he would’ve been fine with waking up at five fifty, scarfing down breakfast and washing up before heading to class.

So he rolls over to face the other’s bed, propping himself up on an elbow as he blinks sleep from his eyes.

And there’s Junhee, resembling a deer in the headlights as he pauses mid crouch, trying to retrieve something that fell on the floor. Donghun squints.

Ah. His phone. That would make sense. That’s the only thing that makes sense at this exact moment in time.

“Jun?” He asks groggily, voice rough. “It’s barely five in the morning -”

“I didn’t mean to wake you!” He says in a distressed whisper. “My alarm went off on my phone and when I went to grab it, I pushed it off the bed and -” He pauses, quickly snatching up the device. “I’m sorry. Go back to sleep.”

“Why are you awake?”

“I usually wake up at this time once or twice a week, it’s just that you usually don’t wake up to my alarm because I keep it on vibrate so it doesn’t disturb you.” Junhee says, sheepish. “Go back to sleep.” He repeats, insistent.

Donghun wants to probe further. Why does he wake up at five in the morning? Why is it not an everyday thing but a ‘once or twice a week’ thing? But the thought of catching just a few more minutes is too tempting of an offer. So he dutifully nods and plops back down onto his pillow. 

His eyes close, but he can’t grab onto the edges of sleep. Especially not when he hears Junhee leave the room. Or when he hears the soft ‘good morning’ that Junhee gives Latte. It’s only a mere fifteen minutes of trying to chase down his elusive sleep that he finally gets up. It’s not a graceful process. He hisses at the feeling of the cold air landing on his skin when he tugs the comforter off of himself. His throat is scratchy - but he doesn’t have his usual water bottle on his night stand to cure that. 

He sits at the edge of his bed, thin t-shirt and sweat pant pajamas hanging loosely. Despite the sweat pants intention to keep his legs warm in the brisk air conditioned mornings of their apartment, it does shit all to keep him from shivering just a bit. After a bleary look through his side of the room, he sees his salvation in the form of a sweatshirt folded on one of the shelves.

A snail probably moves faster than Donghun does when he’s woken up unexpectedly. It takes him three minutes to cross a distance of four feet. Still, he can count it as a success when he tugs his sweatshirt on, sighing in relief at the warmth it brought with him.

Now it’s part two of his morning agenda - find out what the fuck Junhee is doing at a time like this. So he moves at a bit of a faster pace, no longer feeling like he’ll freeze to death in their own apartment. 

The bright light of the bathroom right across from their room makes him want to tear his eyes out. Yet there Junhee is, squinting as he crouches by the litter box.

“What are you doing?” He asks sleepily, voice cracking. As of right now, he can’t find it in himself to be embarrassed. 

“Emptying her litter box and taking out the contents of the litter locker to throw away.” Junhee responds bluntly, scrunching his nose. 

“But...why now?”

“Normally you’re still asleep, so it doesn’t disturb you.” The younger shrugs. 

“Yeah but..” Donghun trails off, glancing at the sleek metal contraption tucked behind the litter box. “Why take it out now?”

“Because no resident assistants or security guards are out at this time. At least not in our area. They have to go check in and check out in the main offices on campus to put their hours in. So it leaves me with a twenty minute gap to get this to the dumpsters before the morning shift rolls up in one of their fancy golf carts.” Junhee says, as if this information is obvious.

But it is not obvious. Donghun didn’t know that their apartment complex was technically unsupervised for twenty minutes at five in morning. How the fuck did Junhee know that? How was he aware of this perfect little loophole when he was a new student? 

“I - how?” Donghun asks, befuddled. “How do you know that?”

“Because the resident assistant for the night shift is a grumpy little thing that complains when the security guard takes too long to get there. I’ve ran into them once when I was wandering the halls when I couldn’t sleep. Nearly got chewed out.” The other remarks, dumping the contents of the litter locker into a trash bag at his feet. 

That is...somehow even weirder. So Junhee went on a late night walk around five in the morning once and got lucky enough to discover a mouthy RA. What the fuck. Donghun is also acutely aware of how fucking weird their current situation is.

Junhee is cleaning out a damn litter box and he’s just chilling here, talking to him as if they were making breakfast.

Mornings are weird. He decides that he doesn’t like waking up at this time. Seeing Junhee at this time of day is like seeing a cryptid. Their fluorescent bathroom lights paint a sleepy glow over the both of them and Donghun starts to wonder if there’s anything normal about Junhee. 

“Well..while you do...this..” Donghun pauses as his sleepy brain tries to piece together something coherent. “I’m going to go get my stuff together so I can shower as soon as you get out of the bathroom.” 

The other just nods, sparing a small glance at him before moving to dig around in the cabinet under their sink. Which is news to him. He didn’t know that they had a cabinet under their sink. Or maybe he did.

No yeah he did, that’s where they keep the extra toilet paper. 

God he’s tired.

Junhee pulls out the box of litter, opening it up to refill the litter box now that it was empty. Donghun doesn’t wait around to watch him, focusing instead on going back to their room to dig around for some clothes. It’s supposed to be a bit chilly in the morning and gradually heat up throughout the day. So he'll wear long sleeves for now. He can change later if he really has to.

Junhee is thankfully out of the bathroom by the time he gets back. If he strains his hearing just enough, he can hear the front door deftly unlocking.

So he swings the bathroom door shut, folding his change of clothes onto the sink as he double checks to make sure his towel is there. When he showers, he makes sure that the water isn’t too warm. The warm water would just make him sleepy instead of wake him up. So it’s a lukewarm shower at best.

He gets out relatively quick, hair sticking to his forehead as he shuts off the water and reaches for his towel. Donghun dries off quickly in hopes to get warm clothes on, sparing a glance at the bathroom clock. 5:50. Yeah, that’s enough time for Junhee to shower.

Once he’s comfortably dressed and content with how his hair looks, he exits the bathroom and goes to their bedroom. Junhee is sprawled out on his bed, clothes haphazardly gathered.

“Your turn.” He says as he goes to fix up his bed, making it look somewhat presentable. Junhee can be heard shuffling off to the bathroom and closing the door behind him, the sound of water running reaching his ears just a few minutes later. 

Donghun finds himself laying on his bed shortly after making it - berating himself for being ultimately counterproductive. He must doze off at some point, though, because the incessant buzzing of a new message startles him. The whole world spins for a moment since Donghun is convinced that he only blinked. But no. Apparently he fell asleep. Like a dumbass.

He groans lowly, rolling over to hunt down for his phone before rolling out of bed with it in his hand. It’s best to get to the kitchen now to prevent another micro-sleep from happening.

**(6:18 AM) Minhyuk~:**  
_Hey hey~ Good morning~ Kihyun and I are about to do our early bird broadcast~ He wants you to know that you’re on the roster to have your first radio show of the semester on Thursday~_

If he didn’t have Minhyuk’s contact, he’d still be able to tell who it was. He’s the only person he knows that types like that.

But the message is a welcome one - Donghun’s been craving to host one of his shows lately. Plus he’s gotten a few questions about it on twitter. Which means that he has a very small fan base waiting for him. It’s all very exciting. People are actually excited to hear him talk again. 

That alone puts him in a very good mood as he starts to whip up a quick breakfast. Despite waking up early, he still finds that breakfast will have to be a quick one, given that he and Junhee will take thirty minutes to get to class. 

So cereal it is. 

He’s quick to pour his own bowl, frowning as he does so. A warm breakfast sounds really good right about now. 

Junhee comes in, looking about as rough as Donghun feels. He looks even more asleep than he did before getting in the shower. Ah, the dangers of piping hot showers so early in the morning. They’ll lull you back to sleep instead of waking you up.

The younger lets out a muffled noise - sounding much like a whine as he rubs at his eyes. Donghun takes pity on him and goes to pull out an extra bowl before moving to retrieve Latte’s so the other wouldn’t have to rummage around for it.

“Get her fed while I pour the cereal. We only have frosted flakes though, so you’ll either eat them or starve because we have no time to cook things if we want to be at our lesson on time.” Donghun says in a motherly tone, one that was used far too often with him. Except his mom would through in weird lawyer lingo that he didn’t understand. So Junhee was spared that. 

Junhee just nods sleepily, an attempt at saying ‘I’ll eat them’ coming out slurred as he shuffled along to grab Latte’s food from the fridge. He went through the motions that Donghun had grown accustomed to, but they were seemingly slowed. Donghun let out a soft sigh, pouring Junhee’s bowl and using up the rest of their milk to drown their mountains of cereal. He plopped spoons into them and considered them a respective meal as he went to gently place them on the table.

Junhee was busy getting Latte to take interest in her food, but it seems that even Latte was a bit tired today. Though she perked up as soon as Junhee snapped his fingers over her bowl.

He can’t say the same for Junhee, though. He joins him at the table just moments later, staring down at the bowl like it had personally offended him.

“It’s miserable to eat cold cereal this early, I know.” Donghun sympathizes, perhaps a tad sarcastically. “But you need something in your stomach before class.”

The other just pouts further before nodding, picking up the spoon and starting to eat.

Meal time, in total, is fifteen minutes. Donghun finishes in ten, Junhee in twelve. The last three minutes was putting their (and Latte’s) bowls in the sink and brushing their teeth. There's nothing more bonding than watching your roommate pour an obscene glob of toothpaste onto their brush. It was vaguely horrifying.

He checks the time after he leaves the bathroom, frowning at his phone. 6:33. They’ll make it. Probably.

“C’mon Jun. Wake up time.” Donghun says, nudging the other as they go to slide their shoes on by the door. “The cold morning air will wake you up. Should I make you jog so you stop lazing around?”

Junhee, as it turns out, does not quite appreciate the same motivational techniques that Donghun does. Donghun can’t even complain because he recognizes that it must be annoying to hear something like that so early in the morning. 

With a hushed goodbye to Latte (as is the new tradition within this apartment), they leave to get to class. It turns out that the cold weather does wake up Junhee, judging by the distressed and disgusted groan the other lets out as they leave the lobby a few minutes later. It’s still kind of dark outside, that in between time of dawn where everything still seems to be semi cloaked in darkness while also showing the first fragile rays of light.

The cold air and the speed walking seems to wake the other up well enough to finally pester Donghun. Which would’ve annoyed him in the past. Now he’s just happy that Junhee isn’t a tired gremlin.

“Are you ready for today?” Junhee asks, tugging at his sweatshirt sleeves fitfully. 

“Ready to get it over with.” Donghun replies breezily. “Why? Are you?”

“Uh - well! Yeah!” Junhee says, keeping his eyes trained forward. “I just don’t want to get a bad grade on the first assignment of the year, you know? It’ll be hell to bring that back up.”

“Not really. If she gives a lot of assignments, you’ll be able to bring up a bad grade just fine.” He reassures. “You were put into the class for a reason, so show it off and you’ll be fine.”

Junhee seems to just sagely nod at his advice. Any ‘serious’ conversation dies after that, both of them instead focusing on getting to their class as soon as possible. Which they do. They arrive precisely at 6:54, Junhee taking residence up in one of the higher seats since a good portion of the class had the same idea. Get there early.

At 7:00, as if she were waiting just for this exact moment, Professor Yejin walks in from the direction of her office.

“Hello my little early birds~” Their professor all but coos. “I know seven is a little early to sing, so I’m going to give you half an hour to wake up!” She says, clapping her hands together. “The theatre department teachers were kind enough to let us use the auditorium for our assignment today. So we’ll head on over and get all set up in there, yeah?”

She waits for a few moments before smiling again, ushering them to stand up and going to stand by the door.

Donghun stares at her for a moment, tired mind complaining about how he has to go walk out in the cold morning again. If she had wanted them to perform in the auditorium, why didn’t she just make them meet her there? It would make more sense. Then again, a ton of professors seem to lack the common sense that is needed. So instead he shoots a glance at Junhee a few rows up above him, lifting up an eyebrow before moving to grab his bag. 

Junhee just nods tiredly in response, picking up his own bag and moving down to meet Donghun at his seat while other students start to file out of the classroom.

“Why didn’t she just -” Junhee starts, stopping when Donghun just shakes his head and raises a hand to silence him.

“Don’t question it. Just accept it.” He says, hoisting his bag over his shoulder and walking around his desk to stand by Junhee. 

Donghun gently places his hand in the middle of the other’s back, nudging him into moving along with the last few remaining students. Part of him is rather excited to get this started - he hasn’t heard Junhee officially sing before. He’s heard him humming and he’s heard him singing way off key towards Latte in some dramatic fashion. But actual, proper singing has eluded him. It’s exciting.

Too bad he’s a little too tired to fully let that excitement wake him up.

The teacher, bless her heart, excitedly marches them towards the auditorium. Donghun can best describe the walk by relating it to a very excited toddler that has way more energy than her parents. 

Whatever happened to them being the ones full of energy?

The auditorium looms over them as they approach. He hasn’t been in there since - well - last year to watch a show. In striking reality, he hasn’t been in there much at all. He’s been to Byeongkwan’s dance programs, he’s been in a choir concert, he absolutely adored the theatre class’s renditions of Peter Pan and Beauty and the Beast . 

So that’s...perhaps six visits entirely. 

Huh.

That’s not a lot at all. In a way, he’s disgustingly disappointed with himself. He goes to an art school. He should be going more often. As he focuses his gaze on the auditorium ahead of them, he makes a mental note to go to every show this year. As long as they’re affordable.

Eh. He can use his radio host privileges, say he’s planning to advertise the show. They’ll let him half off in that case. 

Perhaps the lack of visits make the theater much more grand when they finally get to step into it. The lobby is lavish within itself, the ticket booth recently being remodeled. The floor is a fresh set of tile and the walls look like they’ve been painted over the summer break. There’s a long line of posters along the walls of every musical and play done in the last five years - a testament to how often they get to perform.

The actual theater itself is even more breathtaking. With the house lights dimmed down low enough to walk down the aisle ways in between the rows and rows upon chairs, he forgets that they’re in a university theater. It can, hypothetically, sit around six hundred people. Which is a fairly decent crowd.

Their teacher ushers them to the front row, making sure everyone sits in a seat close to the stage. Donghun finds himself immediately trying to pick out where Junhee is, frowning a bit when he finds that the other is already sat between two people. So he surveys the open seats, finally settling down next to Woo Youngsoo. Youngsoo stares at him for a moment, smiling politely before facing their teacher again.

Donghun can’t help but shoot a glance back towards Junhee, but he can’t pick out who he’s sitting next to.

“Now that you’re nice and comfy, we can go over the ground rules before we start your performances in thirty minutes.” Their professor says, nodding lightly. “While we have someone performing, it would be polite to have your phone on silent and nothing in your lap or hands that could distract you. Talking should be minimal - if you have to talk, talk in between performances.” She prattles off, pursing her lips. “We clap for everyone at the end. It doesn’t matter if you liked it or not - we’re here to be a positive audience, yes?”

She seems pleased with the mumbled agreements.

“Good, good. That’s basically it. Fairly simply, right?” She asks. “So you have thirty minutes to warm up - my teaching assistant, Hangyeom, should be in here by then. He’s going to be recording your performances that way I can look back on them if I don’t complete the grading.”

It sounds reasonable enough. Their poor professor probably expects them to get straight to warming up as soon as she releases them, but a good portion of the class slouches in their seats to rest. The early class is still jarring to some of them, apparently. Donghun can’t help but turn to look at Junhee - the bitter side of him expecting to see the younger doing the same thing.

But Junhee is actually out of his chair and slinking away to one of the side rooms. Donghun recalls that Junhee is also an acting major - perhaps he’s in the theater more than once. It’d give him the advantage to know some more secluded spots to practice.

He swallows down the urge to follow. Junhee wants to practice, not get spied on. 

The ugly part of his tries to whisper that Junhee’s ditching, that Junhee is actually just slacking off in one of the other rooms. In order to shake those thoughts from his head, he focuses on getting up and heading away from the others to warm up. It shouldn’t matter what Junhee does. Junhee seems to care about his grades - if he doesn’t practice now, he’s probably practiced at some other point. Instead of focusing on stupid things like what he’s imagining the other doing, he should be practicing for his own assignment.

It may be a disgusting early morning class. It may be a little cold in the theater. None of that will change the fact that this is going in their gradebook. For that sole purpose alone, he’ll practice. God forbid he gets a miserable grade on the first assignment in class. It’s not even for the proper reasons - he just wants to get a good grade so he can fuck up on other assignments later in the semester. 

So he practices, voice lost to the noise of the other sleepy students also starting to warm up. It makes him wonder how many of them have the same motive that he does.

Probably a good handful of them, if he’s honest. 

He can only hope that Junhee is thinking the same way.

Junhee. He’s excited to hear Junhee sing. Though he doesn’t like admitting that to himself. Part of him (that recurring ugly part) wants Junhee’s voice to crack on stage, wants him to trip while going on stage. Wants him to fail so miserably that it knocks him into place. Everyone deserves a dose of humility.

But does Junhee deserve it yet?

The good side says no. He wants to agree with the good side. The worst Junhee has done was bring in a cat and snap at him whenever Donghun was giving him attitude. They’re past that now. 

So no humility yet.

Donghun mentally scolds himself. Now is the time to be worrying about his own performance. Whatever happens to Junhee’s performance is all on him. There’s no reason for him to think about it as long as he has.

He lets himself get carried away by his own voice, forcing all his thoughts on inner critiques. Sing that note lower, sing that one higher, stop rushing the chorus. Make sure to breathe. Don’t sing too loud while practicing so there’s no risk of a voice crack. Briefly, there’s a vague fear of something being stuck in his braces - maybe a piece of cereal from the scarfed down breakfast that him and Junhee had this morning. 

In a moment of pure paranoia, he whips out his phone to open the camera and survey everything. Not a sign of any food. Which should be expected, since he brushed his teeth. Still. The last thing he wants is a piece of leftover ham flying out of his mouth while he sings.

Time goes by faster than he thought it would. The teacher's assistant arrives a few minutes earlier than anticipated, but everyone is already heading back to their seats. Donghun feels comfortable enough with his performance to follow suit.

Junhee is back in his seat before Donghun is. It shocks him, the slightest bit, to see him sitting and staring expectantly in the direction of the teacher. He had been in another room - had someone gone to get him? Or did he have some sixth sense of punctuality?

Thinking back to what he knows about Junhee’s family, he wouldn’t be surprised if a manner of punctuality had been ground into him as a young boy.

Their professor waits patiently as everyone settles back down. She’s sitting on the edge of the stage, portraying a bundle of youth despite being somewhere in her forties.

“Everyone ready?” She asks, not waiting for an answer. “I’ll assume that you are ready. All of you have sent me the instrumentals to your pieces over the last week, which I’m incredibly thankful for. I’ve wirelessly connected my laptop to some of speakers in the theater. When I call your name, the first thing I want you to do when you’re up at the microphone is tell me your name and the song you’re singing.” 

She pauses then, glancing around the theater before taking a small breath. 

“Some of you have asked if you can use live instruments due to your songs being sung over guitar pieces. I’ve approved these this time around, but unless specifically stated next time, please find songs that have proper background instrumentals that can be played on my laptop.” She addresses simply, folding her hands over her lap.

He wonders, vaguely, how many people asked her. More importantly - who asked her? He’s always loved seeing live instruments being played during assignments. It just makes him that much more excited to see the other performances. 

“As soon as the song starts, you sing.” She continues, hopping off the stage. “When I tell you to stop, bow and exit stage left. If I stop you earlier or later than someone else, don’t worry. The times will be random.”

Random times stress Donghun out more than regular times. What if he forgets some lyrics? 

“I’ll be sitting in the second row with Hangyeom. He has a tripod setup to record you guys. Because of this, I ask that you don’t stand up during performances. We’ll take a break halfway through to let you stretch out your legs.” Their professor comments, clapping her hands together as she makes her way to the second row. “Everyone ready?”

The chorus of affirmation is much livelier this time around.

“Good!” She chirps out, sitting down and moving to open a laptop next to her. “With that said, Kim Hyojin will be starting us off.” Professor Yejin says excitedly, tapping a few keys on her keyboard.

Hyojin. He doesn’t know much about him. All he knows is that he’s friends with Sehyoon and that he won a family pack of tickets to a theme park from singing at the talent show.

So he’s talented.

And just like that, the assignment begins. The order goes from boy to girl just to keep things even. It’s not like it matters to him, he just likes to hear people sing. Hyojin has a comforting voice, while Minji’s voice showed off her colorful range. 

Every performance shows at least a bit of what the person is capable of. Taekwoon’s soft voice is suited for melodious songs, while Jiwon fits the more perky, poppy tones with her upbeat energy.

What tone would Junhee suit? That’s something that he toys around with. For some reason, he can imagine a trot song fitting Junhee.

The sole thought of Junhee going up and belting out a trot song gets him through some of the shakier performances. It’s a rather amusing concept. He also would have to give Junhee major props for doing it.

“Lee Donghun!” Professor Yejin calls out after another handful of performances. “You’re up! We’ll be taking a break after your performance.” 

Donghun just nods, standing up from his seat and moving to walk up the stairs onto the stage. He’s not nervous about this. He lives and breathes being able to sing on stage.

He casts a glance out to the second row, looking at Professor Yejin. He waits quietly for her to glance up from whatever she’s writing, watching her nod to indicate that she was ready to listen.

“Good morning everyone. My name is Lee Donghun and the song I will be singing is Breath by Nell.” He says, voice confident. 

Professor Yejin nods approvingly, taking a moment to focus scrolling through the music. He uses this time to prepare, shuffling in front of the mic and bowing his head. Donghun takes a few steadying breaths, waiting.

The music starts. The first few beats hit his ears, the music picking up until it’s finally his cue to start. His voice is powerful - he knows that. It’s a simple fact of the matter. The past him wouldn’t have been so cocky, but this isn’t cockiness. He knows that his voice is good at reflecting emotions.

Which is why he chose this song.

Breath resonates with him deeply. It sums up the life of a person who is exhausted from trying to endure life, thinking that everything they’ve done in their life is ultimately worthless towards making them the person they want to be. The whole song illustrates the need and importance to take a step back to assess situations and what to do when you come upon a tough one that you might not be willing to try to fix.

Which, now that he thinks about it, is a rather sneaky motif to sing about at this point in time. Had he chosen it subconsciously? Definitely. Maybe he chose it consciously at this point. Either way he likes the song. It’s not often that he can actively say that he can listen to a song on repeat. But Breathe is one of those songs.

He gets nervous around half way through the song because their professor is still letting him sing. Perhaps he’s not showing her what she expected of him. Maybe it’s not as great as she had hoped it would be. He pushes that away in favor of keeping up with the instrumental, hands gripping the microphone stand tightly. 

“Alright, that’ll be enough.” Professor Yejin announces less than a minute later. He can’t help but feel relieved. Donghun nods, bowing slightly as people clap before walking off the stage. 

Professor Yejin calls for a ten minute break so she can stretch her legs, and everyone else seems keen on doing the same. 

“Donghun!” A voice calls out as he makes his way back to his chair to grab dig through his bag for his wallet. He wants a water from the vending machine outside - quite frankly he feels like he deserves one. Donghun tilts his head in the direction of the voice, curious.

Ah. Minseok. One of Byeongkwan’s friends if he remembers right. They know each other through him. It’s kind of funny, he wasn’t even aware that Minseok of in this class. Whoops. 

“Ah, good morning Minseok.” He replies politely, bowing his head a bit in greeting. The other man just grins and nods. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to say that your performance was really good!” Minseok gushes, smile bright. “Byeongkwan always told me about how beautiful your voice was - I’m glad I finally got to hear it for myself!”

Donghun laughs lightly, shaking his head. “I’m glad you enjoyed it - can you walk with me while we talk? I want to get a water.” He says, motioning to the walkway. Minseok just nods in understanding and steps out of the way so Donghun can start walking. “But does Byeongkwan really gush about my voice?”

“All the time! He talks about how you tutor underclassmen!” Minseok says enthusiastically, moving to walk alongside him. “Now I can understand why people would go to you to get tutoring! Your voice is so stable!”

He can’t help but think back to sophomore year when his teacher said that his voice wavers were some of the worst he’s ‘ever heard’. Getting praise like this is...a pleasant character development. 

“Thank you, Minseok.” Donghun says, gazing at the other out of the corner of his eye. “Are you ready to present your song?”

“Nope!” Minseok says, just as cheerily and bright as he previously was. “My teachers last year recommended me to this class even when I said that I didn’t think I was ready. So I am terrified of going up on stage.” 

Well...that wasn’t what he had necessarily expected. He doesn’t really know what to say. Does he comfort him? Does he try to joke it off? If he jokes it off it might seem like he doesn’t care. He does care because that’s a shitty situation to be in.

“Well...I’m rooting for you!” Donghun says after a moment, smiling. “They obviously saw something in you to put you in this class! You’ll be fine.”

Minseok seems to enjoy that sort of praise, smile widening. Does the kid ever stop smiling? He’s even happy that he’s stuck in a shitty situation. Donghun wishes he could be like that - Minseok would probably still be smiling even as the world ended.

“Maybe you’re right!” Minseok assents, nodding before hurrying to hold the door open for Donghun. He hadn’t even realize that they’d already reached an exit. “Maybe I’ll do better than I think I will!”

“Mhm.” Is all he can think to reply, bowing his head thankfully as he walked through the open door. The lobby sprawls out before them - but all he cares about is the dinky little vending machine in the corner. The light is flickering and the whole thing is a bit depressing to look at, but the water is stocked and that’s all that matters.

He practically shoves his money into the machine, jabbing the buttons for the water. The poor thing rumbles as if it hasn’t been used for months. Which is...likely. The school becomes a deserted wasteland over the summer break. There’s something nerve wracking about the bottle slowly falling - he worries it’ll get stuck. While he struggles to put his wallet in his pocket, he’s relieved to hear the loud thunk of the water bottle landing. 

Bending down to pick it up, he casts a glance out a near window to take a look outside. The rays of sun have finally gotten stronger, lighting up the campus as daybreak shakes off any weariness of the past night.

“What time is it, Minseok?” He asks lightly, nestling his newly acquired bottle close to him as he straightened himself back up. 

There’s the sound of faint rustling just behind him, Minseok eagerly hunting through his own pockets to get his phone.

“Ah...five minutes past eight, Donghun.” Minseok muses, curious. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason. I was just curious as to how long we’ve been watching performances and stuff.” He says with a nod, starting to head back to the theater. “Come on Minseok. It’s best to get back in there in case she cuts the break short.”

It’s not hard to convince Minseok to listen to him. He’s not sure if this is because he’s older than Minseok or if it’s because Minseok is just a follower instead of a leader. Either way, he can see why Byeongkwan has hung around him before. The kid is a ball of sunshine and smiles. 

They make it back to their seats without much of a conversation. The only thing Donghun says is ‘good luck’ as Minseok bounces away to take a seat by Hyojin. Donghun just leans back into his own seat and opens his water to chug it down. 

It’s 8:13 and the class is supposed to end at 8:30. They’re definitely going to be let out a little later than usual. 

“Everyone back to their seats, please!” Their professor calls out after a few minutes, stretching as she walks back to the second row. “We’ll be starting with Choi Hayoung. Anyone who has an instrument will be going near the end - there’s about seven of you, I believe.” She says, settling herself down. “I’m sorry if we go over the normal run time for this class! If any of you have to leave, I understand. But it’d be nice if you can stay.”

And just like that, the performances continue. Hayoung is really cute and her voice is pretty nice - if a bit pitchy here and there. Her confidence is really what makes her shine on stage.

Minseok does just fine when he’s called up later down the line. Donghun hadn’t been focusing as much on the others after Hayoung went, but dedicates his attention to Minseok when he goes up. It’s for Minseok’s sake. The kid is still maintaining a smile but Donghun can see his hands shake as he grabs the microphone stand to announce his song. His voice wavers a bit more than it should because of the nerves, but he survives without his voice cracking.

He can see why his teacher’s recommended the class without giving Minseok a say in it. He does have potential. 

But after Minseok, the performances get a bit rocky. He’s not sure if it’s nerves or if they want to get it over with, but some voices leave a lot to be desired. That doesn’t mean that they don’t belong here, it just means that they chose a poor song to sing. He feels that some of the performances would be vastly improved if the songs were chosen a bit more carefully. Not everyone’s favorite song is a song that they can sing. Donghun just got lucky with Breath.

When the first person with a guitar gets called up, Donghun realizes that Junhee still hasn’t gone. So Junhee was one of the people with a guitar then. Huh. He didn’t even know that Junhee could play. 

The first person’s performance takes a bit longer due to having to set up a chair and adjust the microphone stand for when they sit down to play. Again, the guitar playing is great, the voice is just a tad off key. The next two are much better, but still he finds his attention waning. 

Donghun must admit that he isn’t paying attention when the fourth name is called. Or the sound of something unzipping filters through the microphone. He’s tired of seeing performances, he’s ready to get out of this theater. But then the voice that starts talking is dreadfully familiar, so he shoots a glance towards the stage.

“Hello. My name is Park Junhee and I will be performing October’s Weather by 10cm.” Junhee says after a moment of situating himself. 

And Donghun snaps his head up and takes a long, long look at the other. At the way the low lighting on stage gleams off a nicely polished guitar, how Junhee looks like he belongs on that stage. Everyone (aside from Taekwoon and a few others) looked awkward on stage. But Junhee -

Junhee looks as if he’s meant to be there. 

Professor Yejin must nod wherever she is behind him because Junhee casts a small glance into the audience and smiles before strumming the guitar a few times. 

And then he actually sings. And Donghun is enraptured by his voice. It’s unique - a mix of soft and deep, falling somewhere in the uncharted middle between the two. It’s got soul in places where it should have emotion and emotion where it should have soul. He can’t even properly describe what that means, but it’s there and it lays on him like a thick, comforting blanket.

Listening to the lyrics leaving Junhee’s mouth makes him all the more curious. Why this song? What did it mean to Junhee? 

A past teacher of his said that every singer chooses a song subconsciously. They might never actually realize that they have, but everyone has one. That one song that is your immediate go to on a rainy day when your mood is dampened by the continuous drops of rain. The song that you go to when your heart feels just a little too full and you want to drive to the middle of nowhere and make a home there. 

Breath was the closest thing to that kind of song for Donghun. Was it the same way with October’s Weather for Junhee? Donghun almost can’t imagine it - Junhee choosing such a somber song even subconsciously. He would’ve imagine something disgustingly poppy to match with the optimistic attitude.

But Junhee sings as if he’s pushing every negative thought away as he maintains the correct keys and tones. Donghun can’t help but think that maybe Junhee is more complex than he first thought.

First he had hated Junhee because of Latte. Then he tolerated him, but imagined him as a simplistic guy with the typical family issues. Then he had gotten a glimpse of the loneliness that Junhee hinted at back when he was at home.

And now here he is, awestruck.

He feels sad when their professor says that it’s okay for him to stop - mainly because he’s pretty sure he can see the brief flash of disappointment as the other’s voice tapers off and the guitar playing comes to a halt. Still, any trace of that is gone and replaced by a smile and a polite bow and he puts the guitar back in its case and walks off stage. 

Donghun barely listens to the last three performances, eyes keenly focused off to the side to see Junhee. 

Yejin ends the class at eight forty five - fifteen minutes later than the run time. Which, honestly, isn’t that bad. He would’ve thought it would be longer. She mentions that the grades will be up in their grade books by tomorrow night. 

Thursday, she tells them, will be a day where she’s unfortunately out of the classroom. Hangyeom will be there to pass out a few things and hand out the critiques she’d written during their actual performances. Class would get out a ‘little early’ that day, but they had to stay in there for at least thirty minutes in case any faculty showed up. And they couldn’t all leave at once. 

Man, Yejin was a cool teacher. 

She officially lets them go after that. Donghun picks his bag up, scanning the now moving crowd of people to try and spot Junhee.

He spots him making his way to the same door he had gone through when they were practicing and quickly moves to catch up with him, muttering and saying ‘excuse me’ as he passes people.

Junhee is just opening the door as Donghun gets closer to him.

“Ah! Wait up!” Donghun calls out, voice a bit hushed despite it. Junhee turns to glance at him, adjusting the guitar on his shoulder as he pushes the door open a bit. If he finds it strange that Donghun is following after him, he doesn’t say it.

Instead, he smiles.

“You act like you wouldn’t be able to open the door yourself..” He trails off jokingly, sticking out his tongue.

“Just because I can doesn’t mean I want to.” Donghun replies shortly, nodding politely all the same when Junhee holds the door open and lets him walk through. “Plus I’ve never been back here, so.”

“It’s not like it’s against the law for you to go through doors, though.” Junhee chuckles. “This just leads to a class backstage.”

“Oh.” Well now he just feels a bit silly.

Junhee just nods, walking through a small connecting hallway. The doorway into the room they’re entering doesn’t even have a door - just some curtain rod with a dark purple curtain pushed back. It is very...fitting for a theater classroom.

“Is the guitar yours?” He asks as they walk in, taking a glance around the room. The room is more compact than he expected, all the desks connected with maybe only seven rows of seats. A good portion of the front of the classroom is cleared, aside from the corners that have giant standing closets. There’s a smaller door off to the right with the word ‘storage’ written over it, paint faded. 

It seems that the door they came through is the only entrance and exit. Donghun feels like that might be a fire hazard. 

“Nah. I talked to my professor from this class and he let me borrow it.” Junhee shrugs, nodding towards the storage door. One of our classes was spent go through all the stuff and I discovered it. I had my song picked out already so seeing the guitar was just a stroke of luck, I guess.” He says, smiling. “He let me use it since I have him for the next class anyways.”

“Ah.” Donghun says, watching the other walk away from him. Junhee opens the storage room, flicking a light on. Donghun cranes his neck to get a good glance. For some reason it feels like following Junhee is against the rules. He feels like he doesn’t belong in this room. 

Junhee reappears after a minute or two, guitar now absent. He casts a glance at Donghun a bit quizzically. To his credit, Donghun probably does look weird standing in the middle of the classroom like a fool. The other just blinks a few times, moving to throw his bag down and sit in the front row before slumping forward on the desk.

“So..uh..” Donghun starts after a moment of silence, quickly moving forward to join the other. “What time does this class start?”

“Noon.”

“Noon?” Donghun repeats, glancing at the clock on the wall just to make sure. It was only 8:54. “So - so you just chill out here until then?”

“Yeah..sometimes I’ll leave to grab something to eat and then come back but - ” Junhee trails off, shrugging.

“You can always go back to the apartment, you know? You have plenty of time to kick back for a few hours.” Donghun pouts. Junhee just shrugs again.

“I know. I just - I’m not used to being allowed free time.” The other admits quietly, tracing patterns on the desk in front of him. “At my old college, my classes were back to back with the longest break being an hour and a half. So three and a half hours is a lot.”

Donghun pouts a bit more at that. Is Junhee not hanging out with anyone? Is that a rude thing to ask? He thinks for a moment, chewing his lip while in thought.

“Well..my next class doesn’t start until eleven. So we can always walk back to the apartment together. Unless you have someone you usually hang out with.” 

“No. No one to hang out with.” Junhee says rather quickly. He seems to pick up on that, jerking up into a sitting position quickly. “Not that I’m not - uh - antisocial! I just really haven’t found a group to hang out with yet!”

“I never said you were antisocial.” Donghun soothes. “But the offer stands - if you want to walk back to the apartment with me, just let me know.”

Junhee nods, casting his glance away.

Well now Donghun’s made things awkward. Again. He really needs to stop doing this. They both busy themselves with looking on their phones for a few minutes. Donghun’s trying to figure out if that’s a sign that he should leave or not. They’re not talking, so the conversation is definitely over but -

“Your song was nice today.” Junhee says randomly, eyes still glued to his phone. “Your voice is very emotional. It matches how expressive your face is.”

It takes him a moment to decide on if that’s a sincere comment or not. He can’t find a reason as to why Junhee would lie about that of all things, so he thinks that it’s a compliment. It’s probably a compliment.

“Ah, thank you.” Donghun says after a moment, smiling a bit. “I’ve heard from past teachers that I always look like I’m five seconds away from crying.” 

Junhee looks up from his phone then, properly surveying Donghun’s face before nodding.

“I’m inclined to agree. You either look sad or like everything within a five meter radius has offended you.” Junhee jokes, laying his phone face down onto the desk. “But I suppose that you can’t really help that.”

“Nah. I’ll keep my expressive face.” Donghun nods, clearing his throat a bit. “You also sang really well today. I didn’t know you could play guitar though!” They’ve found themselves on a good conversation topic. Donghun hasn’t found much that he can bond with Junhee over.

“Ah! Thank you!” The other practically beams at the compliment. “I took guitar lessons for five or six years when I was younger! I’m glad they finally paid off.” He says with a nod, looking particularly proud of himself.

“What about your voice? Were you in choir?” Donghun asks, interested now. Junhee wasn’t one to actively talk about what he did when he was younger. At least, he didn’t do that around Donghun. 

“Nope.” Junhee says, shaking his head. “My parents wouldn’t let me. They arranged most of my classes for me throughout elementary school all the way to high school. I usually took whatever free time I gotta go talk to the choir teacher, though. She would give me lessons during lunch. She really wished that I would be in her class, but my parents were...well. Less adamant about it.”

Oh. Oh that’s a bit depressing. Maybe Donghun was just a bit spoiled with having a family who was more than alright with supporting his interests. 

“Did you ever sing around them? Or discuss it?” Donghun asks cautiously. Family subjects can be a touchy matter for most people, but Junhee seems especially quick to rile up if the car incident from when they went shopping was anything to go by.

“Hmph. As if they’d listen if I tried talking about it.” Junhee says sourly, moving to rest his chin on his hands as he directs his gaze towards the front of the classroom. “I sang once or twice when they wanted to gloat at private parties. Other than that, they weren’t much of the artistic sort. Called singers and actors ‘lazy rich people’ as if every singer and actor gets to live a fancy lifestyle -” Junhee grumbles out before clamping his mouth shut. "They were never the type to appreciate art."

Donghun finds himself frowning again, unsure of what to do. After a moment he reaches out carefully, patting the other’s shoulder. Junhee doesn’t punch him or anything; so he’ll assume that it was a good move.

Silence suffocates them, uncomfortable. After a few minutes of tolerating it, Donghun finds himself standing up suddenly, startling the junior next to him.

“Do you want to go get some coffee, Junhee?” He asks, looking down at him. “Ranting about family is always so much nicer when you have a caffeinated beverage to drown your worries in. I’ll pay.”

“Is the place close?”

“Close enough that we can walk there, sit down and chat for a for a bit and then walk back and go our respective ways!” Donghun says encouragingly, nudging the other as he glances at the clock again. “It’s nine fifteen. The walk is twenty minutes max.” 

Junhee seems to be considering it, glancing around the classroom and sighing a bit. He moves to grab his bag, standing up alongside Donghun as he slides his phone into his pocket. “I guess some coffee would be good.”

“Coffee will be great! The best decision we’ll make all day, I promise.” Why does Donghun have to promise that? It’s coffee. Coffee’s good. It’s not like he’s doing anything out of the ordinary by inviting his somewhat-friend to coffee. 

But Junhee just nods and motions for him to lead on. So he’ll make good on his promise and get them some damn coffee. And maybe, just maybe, Junhee will rant a little bit more. There’s a lot of shit under the surface of that optimistic attitude. 

But coffee is the first priority. He could use the caffeine boost since his next class is being a teacher’s assistant for the freshman vocal training class. 

His mind won’t be able to handle the off key voices without it. Maybe he’ll get a coffee to take with him to class. Two cups of coffee never hurt anyone.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little late, my confidence in writing took a massive dive halfway through the chapter. Im sorry if it's not up to par with the rest ;;  
> please enjoy other wise! any typos are my own and i'll go over the chapter a few more times to catch any i may have missed when im less tired <3  
> funfacts i researched how to make cat food specifically for that little bit at the end lmfao why do i do this to myself

Donghun slides into the booth that Junhee has settled in, sliding over a warm mochaccino to the other across the table. In truth, he didn’t know that mochaccinos were even a thing that existed until Junhee had ordered it. It makes Donghun wonder how he didn’t notice it.

Maybe it’s because he always got americanos. Or pure black coffee. Or tea. He never looked at the ‘special’ coffees.

Junhee makes a pleased little noise, content with holding the paper cup in between his palms. Their walk here had been a bit chilly - the wind noticeable enough to prickle at their faces as they walked down the sidewalk to get here.

“Fall is coming early.” Junhee muses quietly, looking out the window to take in the little row of shops across the street. “Maybe winter will come faster than we expect.”

“Mm. My mom calls it ‘chapped lip’ season.” Donghun replies, popping the top off of his americano to blow on the drink. “Then again, I guess this weather can be considered ‘chapped lip’ weather.”

“Definitely.” Junhee grins, focusing his attention back from the window. “Thank you for buying me a drink.”

“It’s no problem. I told you I would.” He grins back. “If I say I’m going to do something, I’ll do it. If I say I’m not going to do it, then I won’t do it. Unless something changes my mind.” 

Junhee just huffs out a laugh, smiling down at the table. “You’re an honest man then, Donghun.” He says honestly, tilting his head back up. “Perhaps a bit of the brutally honest sort?”

“I tend to come off that way.” Donghun says bluntly, popping the lid back onto his coffee before taking a sip. “I’m sure I came off that way with you.”

“Yeah. Maybe a bit more brutal than honest but..” The other trails off, tapping his fingers along the cup. “I understand why you did it.” He admits, lips pursing. “I should’ve tried harder to get into contact with you about Latte.”

“And I should’ve given you a chance before things got as bad as they did.” Donghun shrugs. “We both fucked up along the way. But we’re past it now, right?”

Junhee just nods, letting out a relieved hum. “Yeah. We’re past it now. Now I just have to get you to fall in love with Latte.”

As if that’s much of a challenge. Junhee doesn’t know this, but Donghun’s been feeding her slices of ham to win her over. Not often, of course. Just whenever he was making a sandwich. She was rather neutral to him beforehand. Now he’s often finding her wiggling into a comfortable spot on the couch, in between his legs. Of course, he’s disgustingly endeared to watching her play - Junhee had diligently sewed together a bunch of little stuffed squares for her to bat around. Something soft and quiet. That was his reasoning. 

Donghun made a mental note to check back to see if there were any toys on sale at his shop. His next shift isn’t until Saturday, but he’ll tolerate it. 

“I’ll fall in love with her eventually.” He says, deciding that maybe telling Junhee that he already loves the gremlin creature is a bad idea. He doesn’t want to come off as too soft. “But I do have a question - why Latte?”

“Hm?”

“You know. Her name.” Donghun coaxes. “Why Latte? It’s not like she’s necessarily the color of a Latte..maybe the foam on top of it but..she looks more like a Butterscotch to me. Or Caramel.”

“Ah..” Junhee pauses, licking his lips and taking a small drink of his mochaccino. “My sister’s favorite drink is a latte. This is the same one that brought her to me as a gift so I named her after my sister’s favorite drink. I thought it was only fair if I did that.”

“Aw! That’s cute.” He grins. This is an opportunity - perhaps his little side mission and secret plot to this whole coffee outing. “Is your sister that much older than you? It seems like she’s rather mature to be sneaky enough to bring you a cat without you or your parents noticing. Or, well, she’s good at planning things.”

“Mhm! She’s..twenty seven. So she would’ve been twenty four-ish when she got me Latte.” He said with a nod. “She managed to get Latte since my parents let her schedule her own flight back from Japan.”

Donghun nods, moving to rest his head in his hands. “So she’s graduated university, then?”

Junhee pauses at that. A longer pause than necessary, really. It’s like he’s thinking way too hard on how to answer the question. Donghun wants to call him out on it - but that could prove counterproductive. He wants to learn more about Junhee’s family so he doesn’t feel like a fucking creep since he knows who they are. If he can learn about them from Junhee, from a first hand source - the guilt would go away. 

“She uh..she didn’t go to college back when I was nineteen - which is when she got me Latte.” He says with a shrug. “She was always the one that would drive me to school back when I was going to high school. She was absolutely enthralled with baking. I can see her maybe be a pastry chef or something fancy like that. But I wouldn’t know if she’s currently doing that right now.”

“Do you not keep in contact with her?” It’s a risky question. If Junhee changes or shuts down the topic completely, he’ll drop it. At least he’s learning something.

“Ah..no.” Junhee says, face dropping. “She..left shortly after giving me Latte. Moved out.” He pauses, lowering his voice but leaning forward a bit to still be audible. “More like kicked out, but if you were to ask my parents they’d give you a different version of the story.”

“Oh?” Donghun asks. “And is their story the correct one?”

“Hardly.” Junhee mumbles. “My sister was always very..head strong. Stubborn, I guess. My mom is a prim and proper woman with nerves of steel and my dad is constantly tip toeing the line of proud and arrogant. So my sister got the worst of their qualities but still had some decency, I guess. She always treated me and my other sister well.” He says with a nod. “She got into some trouble with my parents a bit before she got me Latte. A big mess in our family, really. It was like walking on eggshells whenever my sister and my parents were in the same room.”

“Doesn’t sound like a fun situation.”

“It wasn’t an uncommon one.” He says with a huff. “They fought a lot. This had been one of the more extreme arguments, but I figured it’d die down like it always did. Except a few weeks after I got Latte, we came home and found all her stuff boxed up and in the living room. Naturally I had panicked and thought they found out about Latte - but I had worked out an agreement with my neighbor to keep her at his house until I got a chance to move away from mom and dad. Then she comes clean about how she’d been planning to ‘fuck off’ anyways and thanked my parents for packing for her. She loaded everything up into the car she had picked me up in and was gone by seven at night the same day. She had stayed to wait for my other sister to drive back from her volleyball game.”

Donghun frowns, mirroring the one playing on Junhee’s lips. “That sounds like a shitty situation..did you have a way to contact her?”

“Her cell phone number. But my parents were so absolutely pissed that she actually left that they confiscated me and my sister’s phones and deleted her contact. I had written it down in a journal before I could forget it. I managed to call her a few times up into one day a few months later when I came home and called her. The number was disconnected.” Junhee sulks. “Haven’t heard from her since.”

Donghun nods sympathetically. He thinks, in a way, that Junhee’s sister probably toed the line one too many times. From what he ‘knows’ about Junhee’s family, they’re influential. They’re in the media a lot. A mouthy child like that wouldn’t look good for them. Discredit the child and kick them out - that makes them unbelievable to any news source.

“I’m sorry.” Junhee says after a moment. “I ruined the mood. Again.”

“No you didn’t!” Donghun insists quickly with a shake of his head. “It’s good to talk about these things. Bottling them up is never a good thing.” 

Junhee just lets out a soft huff.

“In the end, it’s whatever. The past is the past, right? Can’t change what happened.” The other says with a shrug. “If she contacts me, great. If not..maybe she’ll see me acting in a movie. Or hear me singing on the radio. Maybe she’ll hear my name and find a way to reach out to me!” The ball of positive energy was back, frown leaving his face as his eyes practically sparkled with hope. 

Donghun wonders if Junhee can teach him how to be positive. 

“Hey you never know, with your voice it could happen!” He encourages, though he’s not quite sure if he believes it. He wants to for Junhee’s sake, anyway. “But that actually makes me curious - what made you get into singing?” He asks, hoping to search for a brighter topic.

“I did it out of spite. My parents hate the arts. So I figured I’d do something they despised.” He grins. “Then I fell in love with how you can express emotion through it.”

“Music is the way to the soul. At least that’s what my teachers said.” Donghun says. He’s desperate to cling onto the topic of music, a topic they can both discuss happily. Junhee seems to take the hint.

“I feel like they’re right.” Junhee muses, voice considerably brighter now that they’re on a different topic. “But if it’s the way to the soul, we must be surrounded by some very sad people in class.”

“Hm?”

“A fair deal of the songs were depressing today.” Junhee points out. Huh. Donghun hadn’t really taken that into account. “So much so that yours was one of the more uplifting ones.”

“Oh..did it sound depressing to you?” Donghun asks, setting his cup down. “I always found it rather..hopeful.”

“It’s very hopeful!” Junhee agrees with a nod. “It just has a very somber feel to it. I feel like it’d be perfect for a movie montage where the character is going through the motions of their life while everything is set in gray-scale.”

Donghun just blinks at him quizzically. “Gray-scale?”

“You know - when the movies have a washed out palette during the depressing scenes. I guess the correct term isn’t gray-scale. But you know how depressing or somber scenes usually have rain and cold colors? That’s what I imagine the song playing over.” Junhee explains.

“Oh!” Donghun grins, nodding understandingly. “I know what you’re talking about now. Like when the character has to leave their family to go do something and they get on a bus and the rain is hitting the windows as they drive through town!”

“Exactly!”

They both stare at each other a moment before breaking into a fit of giggles. 

“I suppose we both watch too many cheesy dramas.” Donghun comments after a moment, spinning his cup around in his hands.

“There’s never such thing as too many dramas, Donghun!” Junhee comments in mock offense. That just spurs on another wave of snorting laughter. 

Donghun decides that he likes Junhee best when he’s laughing. It’s much better than the bitter tone that the other had earlier. His mind also supplies that it'd be very interesting to watch a drama with him - Junhee would probably have some interesting commentary about the scenes.

He’s happy that the conversation carries on with lighter topics, but he tucks away the information he learned in the back of his mind. Though he chooses not to dwell on it now because Junhee is happily showing him pictures of Latte as a kitten. 

If Latte was a fluffball now, she was nothing more than fluff as a kitten. Junhee talks like a proud parent. It’s rather adorable. Donghun is subtly reminded of how his mother would show off pictures of him to relatives. Except Junhee has way more photos of Latte than Donghun's mom has of him. The logistics of that is a little frightening. 

It isn’t until their coffees are drained that they start to head back. The walk is pleasant, the warm drinks keeping them warm as the day starts to heat up. Junhee seems to walk with his head up a bit higher - whether it’s from the ranting or the caffeine, Donghun doesn’t know. 

“Do you think you scored well on the performance today?” Junhee asks randomly, looking over at the other. “I figure that you probably will. I just didn’t hear you practice much.”

“Ah, well -” Donghun says with a soft laugh. “I think I’ll pass. I practiced at work more than the apartment, so I can understand why you probably didn’t hear me as much.” 

“Oh, that makes sense.” Junhee says with a nod. “You know, you never told me where you worked.”

Right. Junhee had asked him that back when they were assholes to each other. Well. Back when he was an asshole towards Junhee. He really has to stop lumping Junhee in with his past misgivings.

“A pet store. A little family ran one where the manager is absolutely smitten with me.” Donghun says after a moment. “They love to listen in while I sing, but prefer when I sing when no customers are in the store.”

“You work in a pet store?” Junhee says, letting out a startled little noise. “Is the cat litter cheaper there than at the store we went to?”

“Probably?”

“Ah Donghun! You should’ve told me sooner!” Junhee pouts. “The last time I went to a pet store I completely forgot to look! I was too busy trying to find a litter box..”

That triggers something. A small little memory from before classes started.

_“It’s like a litter box but it’s inconspicuous? Not small, you know? But not like….so glaringly obvious? A subtle litter box.”_

Well that just rocks his whole damn world. So he has met Junhee before - a brief interaction. Over a damn litter box. The litter box for the cat that almost caused them to hate each other. He had known about Latte before meeting Junhee - all through a sheer coincidence. If he had remembered him from the shop, he would’ve been more pliant with having a cat.

Junhee does not seem to remember this interaction. Donghun doesn’t blame him - it was such a brief interaction that even he had forgotten it.

“You alright there, Donghun?”

“Fine!” He says, perhaps a bit startled. “Just, uh, thinking.” He lies quickly. “But yeah, I work at a pet store. So next time we’ll go there to get the litter, yeah?”

Junhee just nods at him with a smile.

“Have you started looking around for work?” Donghun asks in attempt to steer the conversation away from his work. Part of him (most of him) is terrified that Junhee will remember and bring up Donghun’s hypocrisy. “You mentioned that you were looking around.”

“Ah, yeah.” Junhee answers - picking the conversation up fairly quickly. “I have an interview Saturday for a job at a movie theater. I’m also looking around campus for work but the office said that people who have been here longer tend to have first dibs on any open positions.” He pouts. “Which makes sense! I just want an on campus job because they’re more willing to work with my schedule.”

“Yeah I get you. Working on campus tends to be easier.” Donghun agrees. “I never had an on campus job, unless you count my radio shows.”

“Radio show?”

“Ah, yeah. I have a radio show that airs at midnight - my first episode is on Thursday but the schedule usually goes every two days.” He explains with a shrug. “I talk about campus life and try to help people with their campus problems. An advice show, I guess. I feel like I’ve mentioned this to you.”

“You might’ve.” Junhee agrees. “My memory is as good as an earthworm’s brain.”

“Do...earthworms even have a brain?” Donghun asks.

“Well they’re alive, aren’t they? You gotta assume that they at least have a tiny one.” 

Fair point. Very fair point. 

“Well, Mr. “Earthworm Memory”, I hope you’re able to pay attention in all your classes today.” He chuckles out, rounding one corner and admiring the view of their campus starting to sprawl out in front of them. “Did the coffee wake you up?”

“Yep!” The other responds cheerily. “I’m wide awake now - which is good! After class I have to make food for Latte - you can’t do that when you’re half asleep!”

Donghun wants to love someone as much as Junhee loves Latte. Not even the romantic kind of love - just pure, sickeningly sweet love. That’s all he wants in life. He’d be happy with even a fraction of an amount of the love that Junhee possesses for Latte. The thought alone makes him break out into a big, dumb looking grin.

“I suppose you can’t.” Donghun says. “I’m interested to see how you properly go about making her food. I don't recall ever seeing you make it.”

Junhee glances over at him. The happy expression on the other’s face looks absolutely stupid - he shouldn’t be this happy to see Donghun take interest in how to prepare Latte’s food. Yet here he is, happy about that exact fact. He concludes that Junhee is a complete dumbass. A happy one, though. He’ll take a happy dumbass over a sad one, after all. 

(Though the only ‘sad’ dumbass he has encountered was Sehyoon after the other had slammed down two extra large energy drinks and sobbed about forming a crush on Byeongkwan. Sophomore year was an interesting time for them.)

“I’d be happy to show you!” Junhee nods. “Very happy! It’s always so nice to be able to make food for her instead of buying store brand. Of course there’s nothing wrong with store brand! She’s just very picky, that’s all.”

“Of course you would have a picky cat.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not picky am I?” There’s genuine concern in Junhee’s voice - as if he’s been called picky or some variation of it before. It makes Donghun backpedal almost immediately.

“No no. I didn’t mean it in a way that says you’re picky. It’s just that you treat her so well that I’m not surprised that she’s a little picky. She’s living her best life, so she obviously knows that she deserves the best.” He explains. Donghun isn’t quite sure if this is what he truly meant to say - maybe he meant to make it a bit of a mean comment. 

But that explanation was better. Junhee’s worried expression immediately soothes into a more natural one, a look of pride taking its place quickly. 

“I’m glad someone thinks I treat her well!” Junhee all but beams, puffing his chest out with pride. “My old roommate thought I was a crazy cat person and also gave me snobbish looks whenever Latte was around.”

“Was Latte a surprise for him too?”

“Hardly!” Junhee defends. “I knew the kid from high school, I told him that I’d be bringing Latte into the dorm. I suppose...it was ill thought out.”

Donghun lets out a knowing sigh. It was probably very poorly thought out. Junhee’s tact for keeping Latte a secret was good now, but back then he probably didn’t know what to do. So he could see how Junhee likely aired on the side of snobbish. He probably meant well, though. 

“Well, I assume you’re much better at managing a cat than you were back then.” Donghun chips in as they finally step back onto the campus grounds, the dorm parking lot sprawling out before them. “You even make her toys that are quiet. I’m sure you didn’t do that back then.”

Junhee seems to think about it for a moment before nodding. “I didn’t...so I have gotten better, then!” He says, perhaps a bit ecstatically. “So if I’ve become a better cat owner, I’ve surely become a better roommate!”

Now, he isn’t sure how those two concepts correlate or what the basis of a ‘good’ roommate is. But if Junhee insists that the two correlate, then they must somehow. Maybe taking care of the cat represents responsibilities? He has no clue.

Without further elaboration (or in Donghun’s case, not asking for it), they walk through the campus parking lot silently. The positive energy radiating off the other next to him is absolutely wonderful. 

The positive air is welcome as they pass the dorms and make their way to the main hallway of their campus. He finds himself brightening up just because of how happy Junhee is. Really, he could find himself enjoying Junhee’s time with him. It’s a bit limited since it’s Donghun’s last year but...at least they’ll have it. At least he won’t be an asshole.

For once in a long while, there’s no trace of awkwardness in their lack of conversation. They really just feel like two friends walking down a hallway together. It’s a nice development. At a certain point, they pass the exact spot that their public argument took place. Donghun can feel his face heating up with embarrassment at the memory, but Junhee barely bats an eye at it. It’s as if it never even happened to the other - like he completely forgot about it. 

“Want me to walk with you to your next class, Donghun?” Junhee asks kindly instead. 

“Uh..sure! You’ll be able to find your way back to your class, right?” He asks, perhaps coming off a bit worried. The campus is big and, well, Junhee seems to be a bit dreamy sometimes.

For example, he had to save the other a few days ago because he nearly burned his hand while pouring coffee. Granted the other was up at some ungodly hour working on an essay, so he was probably still half asleep in the morning. That still doesn’t change the fact that he had somehow put his hand over the top of his mug before getting ready to pour.

That was a stressful moment. 

Junhee just huffs at him, pouting childishly. “I’m not that clueless!” He whines, accentuating his frown even further.

“You nearly burned your hand trying to pour coffee.”

“Everyone can do that!”

“You had your hand over the top of the mug for no reason.”

That causes Junhee to close his mouth, huffing a bit. It’s all playful, though. He can see the other struggling to hold back a smile. 

“Me finding my class and me pouring coffee are two completely different things.” He jokes, moving to elbow his as they walked. He grinned wickedly, narrowly avoiding Donghun’s return jab. “I can manage.”

Donghun just lets out a small hum of acknowledgement, satisfied with his teasing. So he just nods and doesn’t continue the conversation, favoring taking a moment to glance at the clock on his phone. Ten minutes to get to class. Eh.

The walk is five minutes tops.

That fact is a bit disappointing to him. He wants to hang out with Junhee more before the other has class. Maybe they’d find something else to converse about if he ditched - but he can’t. The underclassmen need him as a teacher’s assistant. Even if it means just making sure their pitches don’t waver. So ditching is out of the question.

Their silent walk together is nice - Junhee is more-so following him more than anything, but he’s fine with it. In the nicest way possible, he feels like he’s leading a cute dog around. When they arrive at his class, Junhee flourishes at it as if he led him there.

“Behold, your classroom.” The other says.

“Behold.” Donghun replies jokingly, sighing. “You sure you can find your way -”

“Yes!” Junhee snorts out. “I got it!”

“Just making sure.” Donghun teases. “I’ll see you at the apartment after your class, yeah?”

“Mhm! Sometime around then!” Junhee says, bowing politely. “I’ll see you later, Donghun!”

“Why are you bowing?”

“Because it’s the polite thing to do.” The younger responds, straightening his back and hoisting his bag over his opposite shoulder. “Unless you don’t want me to be polite -“

“No, no!” Donghun laughs out. “I’m just used to my friends uh - well. They don’t bow to me. So, you don’t have you to either.”

He realizes, near moments later, that he’s referred to Junhee as his friend. Maybe he’s referenced it to himself, but never in public. Or around Junhee for that matter. But he can’t deny it or take it back because Junhee is grinning from ear to ear. 

“Oh! So friends don’t have to bow to each other!” Junhee says, perfectly excited. Now Donghun definitely can’t say anything about it. “Well, I’ll remember that when I see you later!” The other chirps out, smile still wide as he offers an enthusiastic wave and turns on his heels to walk off.

Perhaps it’s a bit of a blessing, since Donghun’s class is supposed to start in three minutes. He just really hoped none of the underclassmen heard that. In a way, he shouldn’t be embarrassed by his...friends...but he thinks it’s okay to feel embarrassed this time around. Junhee was acting like Donghun was his first friend on campus -

Maybe because he is.

Well that’s a sobering thought. He watches the other walk back the main hallway before adjusting his bag and going to walk into the open class door. He can hear the distant chatter of the students, but they are just a quiet buzz compared to his compounding thoughts: he’s one of Junhee’s first friends. If he’s recalling their earlier conversation right, he doesn’t have anyone to hang it with between his breaks.

Man.

That’s depressing.

Donghun shakes his head free of those thoughts as he steps into the classroom, gazing at the students sitting at their desks. A few look up at him, perhaps expecting their professor, but look back down in disinterest when they see it’s just him. Oh they’ll be excited to see him when finals come around.

So instead he settles him down at his own assigned desk in front of the classroom and pulls out his laptop. The professor doesn’t need him for much just yet, so he’s been spending his class time working on other assignments. Basically his own requirement for this class at the moment is to look busy.

Needless to say, he is actually busy throughout the whole class. There’s a few times where he stops to text Byeongkwan or Sehyoon, even going as far as to send Yuchan a text. The other replies in a string of emojis that Donghun can’t quite decipher, but their conversation is nice other than that. But those conversations don’t last long. Talking to Yuchan was surprisingly pleasant - even if all they discussed was the latest episode of a drama they both watch. Googling 'earthworm brains?' also happens at one point - which his professor caught. There's no real way to explain that one. Poor man probably thinks that Donghun is an idiot now. Which he isn't. He just wanted to make sure, that's all. 

Class wraps up faster than it feels like it should, yet when he glances up at the clock it does confirm that an hour and a half had just passed. Junhee’s class started at noon so..he’s only been in class for thirty minutes at this point in time. Jeez, now Donghun had time to kill before seeing Junhee again.

Well, a walk around campus wouldn’t hurt.

It’s not like they have a planned meet up anyways. They’re just going to be going to the apartment and making cat food. Making...cat food. What sort of weird ass domestic activity was that even? Who hears that on a regular basis?

He huffs out a soft laugh, kicking a pebble out of his path as he walks decisively away from the hallway. The benefit of a giant campus was the fact that they basically had their own mini park in it. Many students could be found at this little park, a good share of them napping on the grass. Donghun just liked to walk laps around it and admire the shady tree line and pretty flowers. Their school's goal was to always be pretty.

He wonders if Junhee has been here yet. Maybe it’d make a good place for them to relax after their first set of finals at the end of the semester. 

The tree line for their little grassy area comes into view first. The trees that once provided shade were slowly starting to change with the season, leaves all morphing into different oranges and browns. It makes him wonder if they’ll get snow this year. Answer: probably. He'll just have to find his thicker coats.

This place always looks pretty with snow - it just gets miserable trying to walk through it. 

He laps around the area two times before starting back towards the apartments. He doesn’t even really know when Junhee is going to be coming back home. It probably would’ve been a good idea to ask that question. Whoops.

Donghun passes loads of people on his way back - many of them talking and laughing within their little groups. Most of them are headed to lunch, it seems. The dining hall seems to be thriving when he travels past it. 

That reminds him - the dining hall is probably a good place to start looking for work. They always need help with getting the place ready during the food rush hours. He’ll pass that along to Junhee when he sees him.

Feeling helpful (even if it wasn’t any work at all) leaves Donghun puffing his chest out happily. It helps him feel like he helped Junhee put somehow.

Needless to say, he’s in a good mood and cautiously excited about reuniting with Junhee to make Latte’s next batch of food. Which is still a weird scenario to him - but hey. It is something to look forward to.

His good mood probably attributes to how quickly he gets home. By the time he gets up to their apartment, the clock on the wall ticks just past one fifty. Huh. So he had really been walking for over an hour.

The apartment is silent, all the lights off as he slides his shoes off. 

Latte pads out to him, stuffed square in her mouth. Honestly speaking, he’s not sure if she’s trained to do it or if she’s just a curious cat; but she always comes to see who’s coming through the door when it opens. It seems that he had interrupted a very sacred play time ritual.

“Heya, Latte.” He greets, socked feet barely making any noise along the hardwood floor. “How was your day?” He asks sweetly, moving to plop his bag onto the couch before crouching down and holding out his arms.

Latte, unsurprisingly, comes over and plops the toy down by his feet before moving to balance up on her hind legs to sniff at his hands. In the last week or so, this had become their standard greeting. Of course he still didn’t want Junhee to know.

After all, he can’t fall for a cat that easily. Either way he takes the soft toy, grimacing at the wet patch on it before tossing it across the room. She’s not a dog, he realizes, so she just looks a bit offended that he threw her favorite toy. Latte begrudgingly accepts an apologetic pet before padding off, toy forgotten. 

No matter. She’ll recover from the betrayal that Donghun has obviously caused. He makes his way to the kitchen, keen on scavenging through the fridge like some wild animal. If Sehyoon could do it in the middle of the night, Donghun could do it at a reasonable time in the afternoon.

He’s halfway through stuff his face with some mini microwaveable pizza when the door opens. There’s a faint rustling of bags that really catches his attention - just as much as it catches Latte’s. 

With both of their curiosities piqued, he follows the soft foot falls of Latte back out into the living room. Plate of pizza slices in hand, he leans against the open door frame connecting the kitchen to the living room.

“Welcome home.” Donghun says after swallowing down a the last bite of his pizza slice. “How was class?”

“Good.” Junhee says, kicking his shoes off. “The caffeine kick wore off like halfway through, though.”

“That’s a shame.” He responds, huffing out a laugh anyway. “Did you go to a store?”

“Yep! Rode my bike down the local supermarket to pick up some ingredients for Latte’s food. She’s picky about it.”

Of course she is. They already had this discussion. Still he smiles and nods. “Did you eat something before going to the store?”

“Ah - no.” Junhee shrugs. “I haven’t had anything since going out to coffee.”

Wrong answer. Casting a glance down to the last two slices on his plate, Donghun scrunches his face. They’re not much, the pizza itself had only been four slices. Nonetheless, Donghun shoves the plate out towards Junhee.

“Eat.” Is all he commands. When Junhee looks like he’s about to refuse, Donghun shakes the plate in his hand. “Seriously, eat. I don’t want you getting sick.”

“I can just make something after -”

“Junhee. Eat.” It’s a gentle command, but a command all the same. “At least put something in your stomach before making Latte’s food.”

The junior watches him for a moment but ends up taking the plate anyways. Afterwards, Donghun holds his hand out expectantly to take the bags from the other before padding back into the kitchen. Mission accomplished - feed a college student.

He could mark that off his list. Placing the groceries on the counter, he rifles through the bag to see what there is. 

Some organic chicken and turkey thighs, ground eggshells, vitamins that he’s not even sure he can pronounce and some cans of actual cat food. Most of these are normal. Most. 

Vitamins? Understandable. Chicken and turkey thighs? Those are delicious even for those of the two legged variety (aka: him). Actual cat food? She’s a cat, of course! But ground eggshells throw him for a loop. A whole loop. 

Though that is what excites him about getting to see Junhee make the food - and he gets to help! Hopefully!

Junhee walks in after a few minutes, plate empty in his hands. Donghun feels some sort of satisfaction over it. He knew that Junhee was hungry - he probably still is. He’ll make him something after all this. 

“Ground eggshells?” He questions to get Junhee’s attention. Junhee just glances at him before perking up.

“Oh yeah!” Junhee nods enthusiastically. “Ground eggshells for calcium! I try to avoid calcium powder when I can, something about it makes Latte’s eyes watery. I tend to get freshly grounded chicken bone when I can, but I haven’t found a store that willingly grinds the bones for me yet.”

Oh - interesting. Actually that’s really interesting. 

“So how’d you get enough eggshells for this?” He asks, tilting his head curiously as he pulls the styrofoam jar out of the bag.

“There’s a bakery in town that uses farm fresh eggs for their pastries. I offered to take all the shells off their hands if they were willing to grind them up somehow.”

So he really does go all out for his cat. If only someone cared that much about Donghun, he’d feel like he was the most loved man in the world. Of course he’d rather not share that bottled up angst with the younger. Instead he just nods as Junhee throws the paper plate away.

“Show me how to make her food, then.” He says, leaning against the counter.

And just like that, he sees a different side of junhee. Methodically, the younger pulls everything he needs out of the bag and rummages through their (limited) pots and pans to pull out everything else he needs.

Donghun becomes a student all over again. He has to get some raw egg yolks and put them into a bowl, then add all the vitamins (or well, the ones that Junhee tells him to add). Then he has to lightly cook half of the chicken and turkey - because Latte is on a 50/50 diet which he doesn’t understand the benefits for. Yet he fears asking because this is the one thing that Junhee seems completely serious about.

Junhee does most of the actual mixing - Donghun is just there to cook the food and chop it up. It’s Junhee that handles taking all the finely chopped (it must be chopped into the smallest bits possible since they don’t have a food processor) and mixing them together. He’s okay with missing out on that experience though, with the way that Junhee grimaces at pouring the egg yolk in. The other is wearing gloves but it's still gross. Eggshells are sprinkled into the concoction with such finesse and care that you’d think Junhee is making this for a date.

Water gets added at some point, but by then he’s too busy admiring how sincerely dedicated Junhee is to all of this. He doesn’t even know where to begin about this whole situation. Junhee’s talking to him as carefree as possible while mixing everything together. Donghun is reading off the cat puns on the cat food tins. Latte is currently somewhere within the apartment, existing.

For once, the apartment feels like a completely lived in space. They’re finally doing things together. 

Donghun assigns himself the job of doing all the dishes once Latte’s food is packaged and stored away in the freezer box of the fridge. Junhee busies himself with sterilizing the counter top after putting all that raw meat on it. 

“You do this every few weeks?” Donghun asks, carefully washing off a knife. “I’ve never seen you do it.”

Honestly, he feels like he already has an idea on what the answer might be. 

“I do it at night. Back when we were on bad terms, I didn’t want you to hate me even more.” The shrugs as he moves to put the cans of cat food away in a cabinet. Ah, they must be emergency food in case a batch runs out sooner than expected. Smart. “So I just kept the tradition of making it at night.”

Figured. 

“What time at night?”

“Oh..usually around one or two in the morning. I don’t know how it’s not woken you up yet, honestly...” He trails off. 

Now Donghun just feels sad. Usually, Junhee is the first one asleep between them - between his heavy workload and everything. The boy needs as much sleep as he can get. If he’s making the food at one or two, that means he’s setting an alarm to wake up. Frowning, Donghun goes to rinse off his hands after cleaning up the last few dishes.

“It..went faster with me helping, didn’t it?” Donghun asks, drying his hands on a hand towel and casting a glance behind him.

“Well, yeah. Two sets of hands makes anything easier.” Junhee replies shortly. A soft grunt leaves him as he pushes himself up onto the counter. It’s almost tempting to comment about how Junhee just sanitized that. But he’ll hold back for now.

“In that case, let’s make it together all the time then.” Donghun says. “It’ll cut back on time and then you don’t have to worry about waking up at night to do it.” He reasons, turning to face the other. “Besides. It’s kinda nice learning how to make it.”

Junhee stares at him for a long while. Is it the honesty that made it weird? It was probably the honesty. Should Junhee be that surprised that Donghun really doesn’t hate him anymore? Not like he ever did, but, you know. It came off that way. The longer the silence stretches, the more Donghun feels like recanting his statement.

Finally Junhee just lets out a laugh, smile shining nice and bright.

“I’d like that a lot, Donghun.” He says happily, swinging his legs lightly to some soundless rhythm.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello~
> 
> Some general things:  
> \- If you look through the previous chapters, you'll see that all mentions of Seyoon/Yoochan have been updated to their current spelling! (Thanks @asphyxiajun for the tip!)  
> \- AO3 has literally been fighting me with this chapter. I've tried to upload it three different times and it just never goes through???  
> \- For the most part, I have all the future important scenes written out so I can safely say that the story does have a solid line to follow which will make writing easier.  
> \- I'm also working on the chapter fic I have planned next, which is the ot5 vampire fic. I've got rough drafts for the prologue (more-so for my own reference, I'll see if it gets posted when the time comes) and the first few chapters already laid out.  
> \- Congrats to our guys for making both the Mixnine and Unit final teams! I'm excited to see what music they make!

“This next song was requested by listener -“ Donghun takes a quick glance at the sheet of paper before him. “- ‘Sori’. They say that this song is what they use as a little pick me up during their late night studying! So allow me to present ‘Biscuits’ by Kacey Musgraves!” He announces with a gentle flourish, moving to switch the music on and mute himself. He leans back in the chair afterwards, tugging his head phones away from his ears and resting them around his neck.

Radio shows are always so calming. Even if the suggested songs are sometimes very far off from his personal taste. He aims to please. Besides, any and all tips he gets on his Ko-Fi from doing this is worth it. It’s just that he’d rather not listen to a country singer belt out a metaphor that relates life to a bunch of biscuits.

Hearing it once was bad enough. He has to check every and any song requested to him. It takes a while, so he usually tweets it out sometime around dinner to give people a chance to answer. The following he has assured him that he’ll get at least some suggestions.

And if he doesn’t, well, they’re subjected to his playlist. Which he will defend to the death. There are some good songs on there. It is far better than the playlist that Sehyoon has. That menace is abysmal at best. 

A small vibration in his pocket notifies him that he’s received a message. Risking a glance at the songs run time, he pulls out his phone to read it and subsequently laughs at his timing. 

**(12:47 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_hey. thought i’d let you know that i won’t be able to walk out with you tonight. i’m actually onto something music wise and i refuse to leave until i got it somewhat decent. so. i’ll be here long after your show ends. Though if you really want me to walk you back to your apartment, just call me or somethin’._

Donghun flicks a glance up to the timer to make sure he won’t go back on the air in the midst of texting. Puffing his cheeks out, he frowns at the message before him. There’s no surprise that Sehyoon would discover a nice beat the one time Donghun really doesn’t want to walk home alone. It’s night, it’s the first few months back on an active campus. It’s not that he’s scared of the dark, he’s scared of what could happen in it. 

Still, Sehyoon has hit an apparent stride in whatever he’s working on. Okay. 

**(12:48 AM) Donghun:**  
_Well, I’d rather not keep you from your work. Just make sure that you don’t stay all night, yeah?_

 **(12:49 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_of course. byeongkwan will kick my ass if i don’t get back before two or something. have a safe walk home._

 **(12:49 AM) Donghun:**  
_I always walk safe._

Satisfied with the answer, he pockets his phone again and slides his headphones back on. After a moment he unmutes himself, adopting his radio persona. 

“And welcome back~! Once again, that was ‘Biscuits’ by Kacey Musgraves.” He announces softly. “We are coming up to our fifty minute mark, which means it’s time to roll into some advice. If that’s not your thing, tune back in thirty minutes for the last segment in which I give news, updates and play one last song to end our night on.” 

Advice was a tricky concept for him. He always received more questions than he expected - probably because he allowed them to send it in anonymously - but he liked helping people. Usually. Some people on campus were just lost causes, though.

Taking a moment, he cycles through the questions he had received from his radio specific email. Pursing his lips, he softly inhaled and clicked open the one he had been reading before the episode.

“This question comes in from an anonymous user. Let us hope they’re listening.” He says soothingly, clearing his voice:

“Dear DJ Donghun, can I start off by saying that I am thankful that your series is back? It got me through finals last year. I’m sure it will do the same this year too. Anyways, I find myself having trouble with one of my classes already. Maybe it's just that the teacher and I don't click, but I find it hard to properly study for it! On top of that, they have very odd office hours which makes it hard to talk to them. Because of this, they're always swamped with questions at the end of the class but never stay long enough to answer them all. Is it better to just send them an email about all this and hope for the best? Thank you, DJ Donghun!”

Ah. A common question. What a good way to start off his advice portion of the year. 

“Let me start off by saying thank you, dear listener. I’m glad my radio show has helped you in the past - it was very exciting when I got asked to go on air again this year.” Donghun chuckles softly, biting at his lips. “Getting to know a new teacher is hard - especially if your learning style is different from how they teach.”

He pauses, tapping his foot against the rug under his table.

“First off, I'd say that it's best if you try to ask questions during their lecture. I don't know what kind of class this is so I'm not sure how it's ran, but asking questions can at least make them pause and reword it in a way you understand.” He advises gently. "Furthermore, try sitting closer to their desk! That way at the end of class you can hurry to get to them first and get some stuff cleared up. Emailing them is also a wise decision. It is always a fifty fifty shot at if they'll answer in a timely manner, but it's worth it. It's better for you to reach out compared if you don't at all. If worse comes to worse I'd advise that you ask classmates around you - if you find that other's are just as lost as you are, maybe you can come together and figure things out! Not all of you will be confused on the same topic, so you can work out who knows what."

There’s not much else he can really offer. Instead he sends out his condolences to the poor soul who was affected by it, reassuring that this is a common issue before moving on. In the thirty minute time frame, he can get through anywhere from four to seven questions depending on their severity. Today he manages to clock in five by the time the clock ticks onto 1:20 AM.

“And that’s all the time we have for advice today, I apologize.” He says, suppressing a yawn. “With our last fifteen minutes, allow me to go over a few things that will be happening on campus next few weeks.” 

So he spends his next few minutes listing off some events going on. Like the mistletoe drive that the dance club hosts, the gingerbread building lessons held by the architecture professors. His favorite, the hot chocolate weekend. This one in particular comes around their finals week - free unlimited hot chocolate to try and calm the nerves of the student body. Usually there's music and pretty lights or a bunch of food trucks that the school rents out for their sake. It's a night time event that runs on the Saturday and Sundays before finals week kicks in and he's a little more than excited to have that come up. 

“Concluding tonight, we have a song chosen from a familiar host: Yoo Kihyun from ‘Early Morning Motivation’. He has suggested the song ‘Little Prince’ by Ryeowook. Please listen to it favorably.” After setting up the song, he smiles despite the fact that they can’t see him. “This has been DJ Donghun on Midnight Muses, I hope you enjoyed. Please consider dropping some spare cash into the Ko-Fi linked in my Twitter biography. Thank you and goodnight, listeners.”

And with the muting of his voice and the start of the song, the first run time of Midnight Muses is done for this year.

Shucking off the headphones, he shuts everything down except for the song. It’s set to turn the rest of the system off when the song ends, so he doesn’t have to worry about that.

Inhaling deeply, he takes his phone out once again and looks at his notifications. Ah, someone tried to get in contact with him earlier, whoops. 

**(1:13 AM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**  
_so like.....is sehyoon with u?_

 **(1:17 AM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**  
_or did he have, like, another shift or something? he was here when i started dozing off and now that im awake he’s not here so like im assuming he’s either with u, at work, or dying. or a mix of all three, maybe. idk._

How..considerate? Byeongkwan is the type to express his affections weirdly, though the lack of ellipses does prove worrying enough for Donghun to answer quickly. 

**(1:29 AM) Donghun:**  
_He’s at a studio lol. Apparently found some new beat or whatever that he wants to try. The usual Sehyoon stuff. Which sucks because now he doesn’t want to leave and walk home with me._

Complaining about no walking partner is probably a bit petty. It’s not like he can’t walk home alone, but again, he doesn’t want to.

 **(1:30 AM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**  
_ohhh...that probably means that u get to walk alone..but okay yeah that’s fine, as long as he gets home before like. three._

 **(1:31 AM) Donghun:**  
_Mhm. Knowing you, you’ll come get him before three if he doesn’t get back within the next hour. But maybe you’d enjoy walking me home...?_

 **(1:31 AM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**  
_LOL nah it’s cold and i’m only risking the possibility of freezing my ass off to save sehyoon from trapping himself in a crazy music binge session. why don’t u get junhee or w/e to walk you home? i mean. y’all like actually live in the same apartment lol ain’t that convenient_

For the record, Byeongkwan has a very good point. It had crossed his mind several times today that it’d be wise to just maybe ask Junhee to be on standby in case he needed someone to walk home with. Or well - at least invite the poor guy out. The other had made it pretty clear that he was just going to be studying a monologue tonight. And yet Donghun had somehow found a way to forget to mention it to Junhee every single time. 

He glowers at the messages before him, unhappy. 

**(1:35 AM) Donghun:**  
_I forgot to mention it to him. Besides, I don’t even have his number. I’ll just walk home by myself._

 **(1:36 AM) ‘Bye’ongkwan:**  
_orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr i could give you his instagram...i mean...i am the one that found it after all~_

And it is very, very tempting to say that he wants Junhee’s instagram. At the very least, he could message him there. Some part of him doesn’t want to give himself that kind of satisfaction, though. So instead he just heaves a sigh and stands up to leave the studio.

 **(1:39 AM) Donghun:**  
_No no, it’s fine. I wouldn’t want to bother him anyways, he’s busy. I’m old enough to walk home on my own._

 **(1:40 AM) 'Bye'ongkwan:**  
_:( if u say so. and u should bring him around to hang sometime since u’ve seemed to grow soft for him ^^;; walk safely, hun!_

Donghun stares at the message, scoffing and shoving his phone into his pocket. He’s not soft for Junhee, he’s Junhee’s friend. If that means he’s soft, then he’s obviously soft for Byeongkwan, Sehyoon and Yuchan. Which he is. In a way. But not the soft that Byeongkwan is likely referring to.

And so he leaves the station, saying goodbye to the late night crew as he heads out the glass front doors, marching in the cold temperature towards the apartments.

Despite his general discomfort, he does get home. A little chilly, hands stuffed into the thin material of his jacket - but home. The living room is quiet and dark save for the whirring of the heater kicking in. Ah, Junhee must’ve set it after Donghun had left. Which raised the question of how long he’s actually been out of the apartment. He hums, moving to shuck off his shoes while wrestling his phone of his pants pocket. 2:18 in the morning. It’s not..the latest. Last year he didn’t get home one time until a few minutes after three.

Still, it was late. 

Late enough that he’s a bit startled when Latte comes padding towards him, a bright blob of fur amidst the darkness of the living room. Donghun finds himself releasing a startled laugh, moving to carefully crouch down and scratch behind her ears. She seemed pleasantly glad to see him, quick to brush up against him as he dropped his hands. Fumbling in the dark, he struggles to put his phone back in his pocket. In his mind, he likes to imagine that Latte is cheering for him.

The cat continues to seek some form of attention - insinuating that she probably was not pleased with the amount that Junhee had given her earlier in the night. So Donghun doesn’t really think much of it as he carefully hoists her up, holding her like a human child. She seemed to like it when Junhee did that, so it doesn’t surprise him when she’s more than comfortable with him doing the same.

Without doing much else, he shuffles quietly towards their shared bedroom in attempt to be the least disruptive that he can be. Most of the lights in their apartment is off, but he glances into their bedroom and finds a solo spiraled lamp shining on Junhee’s night stand, casting a weird pattern of shadows along Junhee’s bed and the walls of their room. Nudging the cracked door open with his foot, Donghun carefully approaches Junhee’s side. Latte squirms just a bit, signalling that she is satisfied. So Donghun gently sets her down onto the floor, aware that her bed was under Junhee’s bed frame. 

She’s either spoiled, unaware or ungrateful because she seems insulted that she’s been put on the floor when Junhee is obviously on the bed. Foolish Donghun. Speaking of Junhee -

Oh, asleep. That’s good. It’d look weird if Donghun were just looming over him while he was awake. Not like sleeping was any better, but, you know. It saves Donghun the embarrassment. 

Junhee looks cozy from the position he’s in. He’s partially curled up, facing away from Donghun’s half of the room, blankets barely covering his legs with a pillow weirdly positioned to accommodate the weird sleeping angle. His earbuds are in, the cord connecting to wherever his phone is buried under the blankets and sheets. There’s a binder positioned just a few inches away from the other’s sprawled out arms - which basically tells Donghun the whole story. 

Dumbass fell asleep while studying. Which he’s thankful for, really. Junhee often has late nights and seeing the other peacefully (and endearingly, but he won’t admit that) dozing is all he could ask for. 

Gingerly Donghun reaches over the other for the binder, picking it up and moving to close it and set it on his nightstand. The younger had a keen habit of rolling around in his sleep, it’d be a shame if he rolled over his binder and that woke him up. With a soft huff Donghun considers pulling the blankets up to Junhee’s shoulders, but he fears that his looming is already weird enough. Besides, Latte is trying to figure out if she where she wants to lay on Junhee’s bed and Donghun is not about to interrupt her in anyway.

So instead he moves and quietly gathers his pajamas, slipping out of the room to go clean up for the night.

When he returns, he can make out the outline of Junhee’s body in the dark, a fluffy lump taking residence up by his head.

Latte has found where she’s sleeping for the night.

Donghun lets himself snort at the vague sight, putting his wallet up on one of his designated shelves before hunting down his phone charger to plug his phone in. Without so much as a noise (which he’s quickly learned to master with Junhee), he slips under the thick comforter of his bed, buries his face in between two of his pillows and slips into a pleasant sleep.

After that night, he seems to take in just how painfully normal Junhee is. In the weeks that pass, he frequently comes home from the radio station to see Junhee in the same kind of position. One night it was another monologue; another was him on his laptop, having fallen asleep while revising an essay. Donghun’s personal favorite had been coming back to seeing Junhee laying dangerously close to the edge of the bed with his binder taking up his usual sleeping space. Donghun had been kind enough to move the binder with hopes that Junhee would subconsciously roll to where he belonged.

There is no reason for this whole sequence of events to be so sobering to him. The guy listens to bird sounds for crying out loud - he should expect some weird sleeping patterns. Yet Junhee sleeping, in his mind at least, had always been associated with some rich person’s version of peaceful. Not ‘college guy who just studied until he dropped’ type of peaceful.

Tonight, three weeks after the first initial radio show, Donghun comes home expecting the same. Except this time he didn’t go to the radio station, since it was a Friday night...or it was when he had left.

Sehyoon, Byeongkwan and Yuchan had wanted to go out to a midnight viewing, so he humbly agreed to go with. It was in celebration of Byeongkwan getting his job at the amusement park and finishing his first shift, which is why he hadn’t thought to invite Junhee. But now it was nearly three in the morning on a Saturday and he was more than ready to go lay down in bed and sleep until noon. 

The living room isn’t dark nor silent this time around. The television is on at a low volume, playing through some drama that he doesn’t know the name of. And there, in all his glory, was Junhee. Fast asleep in a slumped sitting position, head against the back cushions of the couch. 

No binders, no laptop, no books. Just his phone reflecting the drama on the television while teetering on his thigh, still dressed up in his street wear. Ah. Had he gone out somewhere as well?

Eh. He’s too tired to particularly care about that. 

Donghun sighs, moving to tuck his shoes into the rack. Latte doesn’t come to greet him, so she’s probably curled up and asleep somewhere. First and foremost, he wants to go to bed. However he can’t bring himself to leave Junhee like this.

How exactly do you wake someone up without scaring the shit out of them? 

He doesn’t really know how to do that because, well, normally he doesn’t have to wake Junhee up. He takes a few unsure steps until he’s behind the couch, admiring the other’s face while he’s asleep. Even in this position he looks nice. Dammit. 

Reaching out his hand, he carefully maneuvers it to tap at Junhee’s shoulder. When he doesn’t seem to stir, he resorts to shaking his shoulders a bit. At least that gets the response of the other lolling his head to face the other direction, face scrunching up unhappily. Donghun sighs, frowning a bit at Junhee’s sleep induced petulance. 

“Junhee.” He says, voice loud over the quiet drama. “You gotta wake up now.”

“Mm.” Is the only response he gets.

“Right now, c’mon.” He tries again. “Your neck will hurt if you stay like this all night.”

That seems to do it, judging by the other’s eyes blinking open, albeit slowly.

“You’re home..” The other rasps out tiredly, voice deeper then what Donghun’s really used to. “About time..” Junhee mumbles, taking a deep breath and turning his head to look at him.

There’s something strangely attractive about sleepy Junhee, which is something that his brain doesn’t necessarily wish to acknowledge or register. Instead Donghun retracts his hand and shrugs.

“Lost track of time.” He offers as an explanation. “Were you waiting up for me?”

“Mm, tried.” Junhee says groggily. “I was gonna text you and stuff but I realized that I didn’t have your number. So I just decided to watch stuff on the television till you got home..kinda did it..”

Kind of. The television is on and Donghun is home, so really Junhee is correct. 

“Ah..I’m sorry. I’ll give you my number in the morning so you don’t have to trouble yourself with waiting up for me, okay?” Donghun says without really thinking it through. He’s still not one hundred percent sure if he wants to give the other his number. If it means getting him to bed, though, he’ll say it.

Junhee seems pleased with that, nodding his head drowsily and moving to start pushing himself off the couch, fumbling for his phone when it starts to slide off his lap. The younger turns the television off, letting out a groggy hum as he combs through his hair. 

Donghun allows him to get a head start so he could change into pajamas, instead meandering into the kitchen as soon as he heard the bathroom door close mere moments later. It’ll be nice to pass the time by quicker if he gets to chug water and maybe rummage through the fridge. 

Two slices of cheese and half a bottle of water later, he can hear the soft footfalls of Junhee leaving the bathroom and entering their bedroom. Donghun chuckles at the soft thud he can hear, insinuating that Junhee has probably thrown himself face first into his bed.

Content, Donghun makes his way to the room, navigating through the dark to have mercy on Junhee. He gathers up his pajamas, hurrying off to change. Soon enough he’s mimicking the other’s action, comfortably snuggling into his sheets.

Distantly, he feels Latte hopping up onto his bed, which is new. Yet he can’t find the room to question or complain about it as he’s dozing off.

The next morning he wakes up earlier then he’d prefer. The clock on his nightstand (newly purchased due to his habit of dropping his phone off the bed in the middle of the night) reads a bright and chipper ‘10:48’ in lime green numbers. Still it’s later than when he’d get up during the week, so he can’t complain.

Despite that, it takes a lot of effort to roll out of bed after another twenty or so minutes of lounging. He perks when he sees that Latte is no longer in the room - which meant a few things. One, she had left to go use the litter box. Two, she had gone to play with one of her toys; as they were strictly forbidden in the room because of her habit of batting them into unreachable corners. Or three, she had gone to check to see if Junhee had perhaps dropped some food into her bowl. Given how Junhee was still in bed, arm dangling off the side of it, he came to the conclusion that the guy had been out cold since they both went to bed last night.

And god forbid if Latte starts meowing about not being fed - she’ll start a one man (cat?) riot if she thinks they’re going to let her languish.

Which means it’s time to stop that before it happens. Reluctantly, Donghun gets up and ruffles through his hair, assuming that he looks like the equivalent of a kid who has slept for three days straight. To avoid disturbing Junhee with any possible text messages, he gingerly fishes his phone out from the tangle of sheets that have fallen to the floor before making his exit.

There’s something intimidating about seeing Latte glaring at him from the back of the couch - which she has comfortably plopped herself onto. Her position says comfort but her eyes say ‘you’re trying to starve me’. It’s a very distinct look.

“Good morning to you too.” He mumbles hoarsely. “You hungry?” Donghun asks, finding his voice going towards the same baby talk tone that Junhee had used on the cat countless times. No, absolutely not. He’s not doing that. “C’mon. I’ll heat your food for you.”

Latte doesn’t follow. He doesn’t expect her to - in fact he’d be terrified if she did. Donghun slides his phone onto the counter, lazily going through all the motions of preparing Latte’s breakfast. Is it bad that he wishes that someone would care for him like this? The whole breakfast making part of it, anyway.

The actual preparation goes smoothly but he nearly punts the bowl across the room when his message notification goes off at full volume. Fucking hell. Hastily he sets down her bowl, not even needing to direct her attention since she had watched him the moment he stepped out from the kitchen. In truth, he was fearful of the phone going off again, purely because he still felt a twinge of guilt over Junhee trying to stay up last night.

Flicking on his lock screen leaves the preview of a message, letting out a small breath of relief at it being Sehyoon. 

**(11:14 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_sleep well?_

 **(11:14 AM) Donghun:**  
_If I had woken up to this I would’ve been pissed I hope you know that. But yes. You?_

 **(11:15 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_haha ye I figured i’d take my risks. slept well, wondered if you want to go out to eat? haven’t decided if i should invite the other two or not._

Good question. He feels like it’s only fair to invite them. It’s not like he really wanted to leave the apartment today - he had actually been kind of keen on staying home with Junhee. It was actually quite rare in the last few weeks that they’d see each other on the weekends. Junhee was always practicing something and Donghun would always be gone on an odd shift at the pet store. Which he still had tonight and tomorrow but they were short evening shifts this time around. The thought of staying in their apartment is all he needs.

 **(11:17 AM) Donghun:**  
_Well...I don’t particularly feel like going out today. Last night was a lot of spent money. What if you guys came over to my apartment though? Order a few pizzas and other take out and stuff? You could finally meet Junhee too, I guess._

He, in all honesty, probably should’ve expected an immediate response. He doesn’t know why he thought Sehyoon would take a few minutes to respond.

 **(11:17 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_oh! that works lol. byeongkwan would definitely come if it means he gets to meet junhee. so like, what time?_

Another thing he’ll never understand is Byeongkwan’s weird curiosity around Junhee. He acts like the other is some mythical creature that shouldn’t exist. But if that’s the way that Sehyoon’s going to motivate him to get out of bed, he supposes he could live with it. He’s acutely aware that they’re planning all this without Junhee getting a say in it and it does make him feel kind of guilty, but he is keen on helping Junhee make a few more friends. Donghun knows for a fact that Sehyoon’s schedule matches up with Junhee’s fairly well, so they could hang out when the others couldn’t. That’d be nice for the both of them, really.

 **(11:21 AM) Donghun:**  
_Would 1:30 work for you? Junhee is...still asleep. I don’t want to force him awake just yet._

Latte lets out a soft meow from somewhere within the living room. Donghun isn’t quite sure where, but he acknowledges her noise with a soft click of the tongue.

 **(11:22 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_make it 2. byeongkwan is still asleep too plus we’d probably swing by chan’s dorm to pick him up. gives you more time to fix up your place lol_

Donghun doesn’t bother to type out a whole response, instead just sending a string of thumbs up emojis. See, he could be cool. Sure they’re not the emoticons that Byeongkwan uses - but he’s trying. 

But Sehyoon does raise a good point - he should probably clean up and make everything look nice. This will be the first time that they have guests over, after all.

With that in mind he sets off to pick up Latte’s empty food bowl, frowning at the stains on it. Just because he’s okay with feeding her doesn’t mean that he’s okay with the aftermath of it. That said, he still makes sure to scrub it down while Latte happily waltzes around the layout of the apartment. Some form of cleaning frenzy takes over him and he ends up scrubbing down a good portion of the kitchen. They’re probably not going to even cook, why the hell is he doing this?

Maybe it’s the habit his dad instilled in him. He had always been a frenzied cleaner back when Donghun still lived with them.

He doesn’t really snap out of his cleaning daze until the living room is spotless and he can hear shuffling coming down the hall. Donghun glances warily at the clock, absorbing that it’s a fifth past noon. He then throws his glance towards the hall, chuckling lightly at the other man. 

Junhee looked like he had given up halfway through, leaning his upper body against the wall and dragging himself along. One would think he had just escaped some sort of captivity, but no, he had just woken up. 

The other always had some sort of odd beauty about him in the morning, to the extent that Donghun would be willing to admit it. His sleepiness gave him some sort of vibe that was much different from a fully awake Junhee, voice rough from sleep and eyes always permanently half shut.

“Good...afternoon.” Donghun says after a moment, quirking his lips up as he straightens to a standing position. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

All he gets in response is a half shake of the other’s head. So he didn’t. That’s a relief. 

“Well...did you sleep well, then?” He questions.

“Mhm.”

Ah. He’s not very talkative this morning, huh? Well, not morning. But it’s morning for Junhee. Technically. Junhee doesn’t say anything else so Donghun resumes to move about the living room, nudging all of Latte’s toys into a corner before crouching down to stack them into a neat pattern.

“Whatcha doing?” Junhee asks after a few minutes of dead silence, voice groggy. “You don’t normally clean on Saturdays..”

“Well.” Donghun hums. How exactly does one mention that he’s invited his squad over without discussing it? That’s probably not a very polite thing to do roommate wise. “Some of my friends wanted to go out, but I didn’t want to spend any money since I’ve spent a lot recently. So I figured that just having them come over..ordering a pizza or two and just..chilling..would be okay? I wanted to ask you but you were asleep and my friend needed to know..”

Junhee processes it, head leaning against the wall as he rolls his shoulders.

“One of them is really interested to meet you because -“ Except he can’t really say why. Backtracking isn’t an option either. “They wanna know how you managed to get a cat here undetected.”

“Oh..they know about Latte?”

“I may have...ranted.” Ranted a lot. But Junhee doesn’t need to know that.

Junhee sighs after a moment, hoarse chuckle escaping him. “I suppose I can’t be too surprised about that, huh? We were both a bit heated back then.” He shrugs, acting as if the incident was years ago. “Are your friends cool?”

“Cooler than me, probably. Just don’t say that around them. Or tell them I admitted it. I always claim that I’m the coolest.” Donghun says, moving to lean against the couch. “I think you’d fit in well, if that makes them coming over any better.”

“Oh - it’s fine. I’ve been to plenty of parties because of my family -“ The other cuts himself off, puffing his cheeks out for a brief moment before pulling a smile onto his face. “I know how to mingle.”

Donghun knows that. Donghun has seen Junhee go from a wallflower to an active talker with Minseok from their class. 

“Just be yourself and they’ll like you. Sehyoon is a bit iffy on cats sometimes so don’t like..think he hates Latte or anything.” Donghun advises.

“If anything, it’ll be Latte that feels insulted.” Junhee snorts, grinning. “I’ll be uh - cool? My version of cool.”

If that version somehow involves the bad knock knock jokes that Donghun has painfully grown accustomed too, he can see Junhee getting hurled down the hall. Probably by Byeongkwan. Who would do it purely because Sehyoon requested it.

“Just be yourself, seriously. If you just put up a front, that’s not making honest friends, is it?” He asks, raising his eyebrow at the other.

“Well no, but. I’m not generally liked at parties.”

“Fancy parties or stressed college student parties?”

“Both?” Junhee says in an unsure voice. “Is this even considered a party?”

“Nah. It’s a kickback. So be yourself, don’t act like you’re meeting some rich bunch of aristocrats. Sehyoon struggled eating a mozzarella stick last night and Byeongkwan laughed about it. Yuchan likes to draw smiley faces on his hands because he’s convinced that it encourages good energy. Literally there is nothing cool about them other than the fact that they’re friends with me.” Donghun beams.

Junhee just smiles back, nodding minutely.

“I’m sorry, I’ve kinda just forced you into this.” Donghun says after a moment, frowning.

“It’s fine!” Junhee insists, waving his hands in front of him. “But you could make it up to me, hypothetically.”

“Hm?”

“Give me your number that way I can message you to make sure you’re not dead instead of trying to stay up late for you.”

Well that’s forward. And reasonable. He still does feel guilty about last night.

“Alright, hand over your phone so I can put my number in it.” He says. Junhee looks a little shocked that he’s willingly agreeing to it. Still, the younger scampers off to their room to retrieve his phone, speedily unlocking it as he returned.

Soon he’s holding it out towards the other, smile bright. It feels nice in his hands - maybe iPhone 7’s are worth their price.

“My phone is on the counter if you want to go put yours into mine. The code is 930228.” Donghun says absently. They’re roommates, he’ll need him to get into his phone at one point or another.

He doesn’t bother to look up to see if Junhee has left, instead pointedly focusing on putting his number in Junhee’s (very small) contact list. Donghun even goes far enough to take a quick selfie to use it as his caller ID. No anonymous photo for him, no sir. 

Part of him wants to snoop when he’s done, but what he sees on the contact list is depressing enough. Seven names. No mom or dad listed among them. Among them all he recognizes Cha Hakyeon - one of the more well known acting majors in the school. So they’re friends, then?

Best not to poke around. Junhee’s phone feels like a sacred item. So instead he lets the screen go black and makes his way to the kitchen, letting out a soft laugh at how the other is also taking a selfie.

“No anonymous photo for you, either?” Donghun jokes teasingly, moving to place Junhee’s phone on the counter.

“Absolutely not. I’m worth more than that.” Junhee responds, dumb smile on his face. Donghun swallows down the urge to agree. “Besides. Your phone needs to be blessed with visuals anyways.”

“Oh, really?” Donghun asks, laughing. “Are my friends not visuals?”

“Well..this guy, Byeongkwan, has his photo taken at an angle where he looks like an egg.”

God dammit, Byeongkwan.

“He’s an exception. He’s special. I’m telling him that you said that when he comes over.” Donghun teases with hopes to scare him.

“I have a feeling that he’ll be proud. It looks like he himself took the photo.” Junhee responds cheerily, moving to hand his phone back to him. “So yes. I blessed your phone with visuals.”

“And I blessed your phone with visuals as well. Seeing as you barely have contact photos for anyone.” He says.

Junhee just huffs and sticks his tongue out, taking his own phone off the counter to look at Donghun’s photo. The lack of response shows that he couldn’t make the comment he wanted to about it. He’ll happily count that as a win on his part.

“So Byeongkwan is one of the ones coming over? Who else?” Junhee asks as he moves to rummage around for breakfast - or lunch. Brunch?

“Sehyoon and Yuchan. Sehyoon is Byeongkwan’s roommate and Yuchan is a freshman that is a friend of Byeongkwan’s.” Donghun explains. “They’ll be showing up at two...maybe two thirty. Sehyoon was saying that Byeongkwan was still asleep when we were texting.”

Junhee nods, seemingly accepting the information as he pushes things around in the fridge. 

“Want me to make you something to eat? You could go shower and stuff while I cook.” Donghun says, keen on making it up to Junhee this way. He’s suddenly thrusting him into a social situation, after all. Plus he’s hungry. So. Might as well make Junhee some food too.

“Oh -” Junhee responds, perhaps a bit startled at the offer. “Food would be..nice. Maybe something light since we’re eating later when everyone gets here.” 

“Any requests?”

“...Something cheesy?”

“Nachos it is.”

“Nachos is hardly a breakfast item.” Junhee attempts to argue, though Donghun can tell that he’s seriously considering it as a meal. 

“Junhee, it’s past noon.”

“Touché.” The other laughs, nodding. “I’ll go shower then while you make breakfast. Or. Lunch.”

“Eh. It’s the first meal of the day so who cares what we call it.” Donghun shrugs, bumping Junhee out of the way to hunt down some of the cheese they had in the fridge.

He listens to the other walk off, smiling pleasantly as he laid out all the ingredients as he pockets his phone. Is this what it feels like to have a friend as a roommate? He must say that he rather enjoys it. 

The water of the shower starts running a few minutes later. Absently, Donghun realizes that he should probably clean up as well. He’s kind of tempted not to do it. Not like he’s hosting anyone important over. He’s been around the other two when they’ve been cooped up in a dance room for three hours.

Not. Pleasant.

Assembling nachos becomes a pain when the other person doesn’t tell you what they specifically want on it. Junhee said cheesy, so like, how cheesy? So much cheese that the chips are drowning? But what if that is too much? Fuck it. He’ll just make them both different levels of cheesy and whichever one Junhee takes is the one Junhee eats. There you go. Now that’s thinking like a college student.

He doesn’t warm the nachos up until he can hear the shower shut off. Cold nachos are arguably a crime. The cheese gets all icky and the chips all sad and soggy.

Nachos don’t necessarily feel like a ‘sit down’ meal, either. They’re more so the type of thing you hunch over a counter and eat. So once he finishes warming them, he sets them down on the counter and bails out to the living room to wait. He doesn’t feel like hunching over a counter today. Instead he makes himself comfortable on the couch and enjoys how clean the room looks while he flips through television channels.

Junhee shows up a few minutes later, pleasantly handing Donghun the plate that he hadn’t chose. Ah. So he did want his chips to drown in cheese. Noted.

His outfit of the day were some torn jeans with false tears - showing just a darker fabric instead of skin - and a long sleeved two toned gray shirt that simply said ‘renversé’ on it. It’s one of his more casual outfits, sleeves running a little long so it required him to bunch them up so they wouldn’t get messy while he ate.

They eat in relative silence. Junhee is focused on the television and Donghun is focused on not dripping any cheese onto the couch. If he did that before his friends came over, he’d actually just move out of the country with no warning. He makes a passing comment about it during a commercial break and Junhee lets out a little cackle and says that he’d join him. Well at least they could split the price for a hotel room in that case.

The bit of time they have left is spent with Junhee cleaning up their kitchen, vehemently complaining about crumbs while Donghun forces himself to shower and get into some nice clothes. Or at least something that couldn’t be easily identified as pajamas.

Afterwards he just kind of loiters around and watches time pass. Occasionally he’ll talk to Junhee, who has sprawled himself out on the couch. He’s mainly reassuring the other that they’ll like him well enough, since Junhee is convinced that he’ll embarrass himself somehow.

“Just be yourself. I told you all my friends are cool, so that includes you -” He says, scrolling through Twitter. “ - I guess.” Donghun tacks on quickly. It’s already been said so he can’t take it back - so instead he just scrolls faster as if that would pass the time quicker. Junhee makes a little joyful noise but otherwise chooses to spare Donghun’s life.

In his spare time he also goes to change Byeongkwan's contact name, bored of the very shitty joke he had made for it. It wasn't even good. He'll think of something better at some point. 

**(1:58 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_gooooooooooooooood day donghun. i woke up a bit earlier than sehyoon expected so like. we just got chan and now we’re like...half way there? but i dont remember what apartment number you’re in so can u just come down and wait lol_

The message leaves him glancing at Junhee, thinking before tapping out a reply.

 **(1:59 PM) Donghun:**  
_I...guess? I don’t know why I can’t just tell you the number though....it’s literally the easiest thing to do?_

 **(2:00 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_well duh but like. we wanna talk about..yknow ^ _ ^_

A sigh leaves his lips. It catches Junhee’s attention, the younger glancing over at him.

“Just Byeongkwan being stupid, don’t worry.” Donghun says simply. It’s not a lie. 

**(2:01 PM) Donghun:**  
_Of course you do._

 **(2:01 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_can u blame me? anyways be there in like twelve minutes :) see u downstairs._

“Junhee, I have advice for you.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t pick dumbasses to be your friends.” Donghun sighs dramatically, moving to stand up from their tiny dining table. 

“But then I wouldn’t have you as a friend.” Junhee replies nonchalantly. 

Donghun really has to do a double take and repeat that in his head. Did Junhee just shade him? Or is that considered a burn? Both? Did the other even mean to do it because right now he’s just watching television like he didn’t say anything wrong -

Donghun feels both (jokingly) offended and proud at the same time.

“Did you just diss me?”

Junhee smirks.

Asshole.

“Haha.” Donghun deadpans, still feeling proud all the same. “I have to go down to the lobby to guide these poor lost souls to the apartment when they get here.”

“Couldn’t you just text it to one of them?” Junhee asks, like the logical guy he is. Now Donghun knows why he should introduce him to the friend group.

“But that’s just too easy, Junhee. Byeongkwan insists on an escort.” Donghun shrugs, moving to pat the back of the couch. “I’ll be back with them. So like..prepare Latte I guess? Or do whatever you need to do?”

“Mm.” Junhee says in reply. That’s not really an answer - but a simple acknowledgment is better than the ‘what if they don’t like me’ spiel that he had going on half an hour ago.

So Donghun accepts it easily and goes to slip on a pair of sneakers. He didn’t even bother fixing the laces, instead just tucking them into the shoe itself so he wouldn’t have to tie them up. He’s feeling spectacularly lazy and overall already fed up with the conversation that he’s sure is about to transpire. But if he doesn’t do it, then who knows what will happen. He can hear Junhee get up as he exists, probably to go scoop up Latte or get something to drink. 

He won’t lie and say that he didn’t drag his feet as he went down to the lobby. Because he did. This whole thing is unnecessary and stupid. 

Still he gets to the lobby and leans against a planter, clicking his tongue idly. He’s planning a check sheet just in case.

If they ask what Junhee’s like: tell them he’s a standard college student who needs to be saved from himself sometimes. An example could be how he nearly left a spoon in his oatmeal when he was about to heat it in the microwave; or when he nearly tripped Donghun saved his life by pushing him onto the couch. Which isn’t really saving, really. But a couch is better than the floor.

There’s no time to think of other things because he’s been busy reminiscing on all the stupid shit that Junhee’s done long enough for Sehyoon to walk in with the two younger ones in tow.

“Hello~” Yuchan greets cheerily, pleasantly bundled up with a scarf tucked into a thick sweater - which in turn is covered by a comfortable looking jacket. “Long time no see!”

“We saw each other yesterday.” Donghun says but waves in greeting all the same. “You all look bundled up, so I suppose it was a good idea to hang out inside. I can text Junhee to turn the heater on so it’s warmer when we get up there if you want?”

“Please.” Sehyoon says with a nod.

Donghun just simply grins and sends out the text, chuckling slightly at the use of the thumbs up emoji that he gets as a response. He glances up at the other’s smiling cheekily before turning his attention to Byeongkwan.

“You had something you wanted to talk about?”

“Yeah, Junhee.” Byeongkwan says bluntly, shrugging. “Is he cool, or?”

“I mean..depends on what you’d consider cool. But he’s my friend and my roommate, so I say yes.” Donghun shrugs back. “He’s just another guy trying to get through college. Sure he comes from a rich ass background but it sounds like it’s a rather unpleasant one.”

“Oh, so you’ve talked about it, then?” Byeongkwan asks.

“He’s talked to me about a few things. Ranted, really. But he doesn’t know that I know who his parents are. He doesn’t know that a certain shorty snooped through his Instagram, either. So don’t bring that up.”

“Wasn’t planning to.” Byeongkwan says with a shit eating grin. “Just wanted to see how quick you’d be to defend him. Let’s go up now, I’m freezing.”

God damn it. 

He sighs, ushering them along to the elevator. If Byeongkwan stumbles along the way, can he be blamed? No one saw him stick his foot out that far anyways. Sehyoon just regards him with a friendly smile, but he’s not sure if that’s because he noticed or if Sehyoon is actually thinking of something else. Yuchan is just excited at the prospect of seeing his apartment - and if it were anyone other than Yuchan, he’d be concerned about that. 

Soon enough he’s pushing open the door to their apartment, expertly concealing the worry he has. Maybe he should’ve just brought Sehyoon first. Introduced him to Junhee and then slowly work Junhee into the group. He instructs the other three to take their shoes off there, planting his own on the rack as he entered. Junhee turns to look at them from the floor, smiling pleasantly as Latte remains curled in his lap.

“Hello. I’m Junhee - though you probably already know that since Donghun has ranted about me.” Junhee says politely, bowing his head with a smile on his face. Sehyoon, bless him, does the same small head bow and returns the greeting. The other two follow suit quickly which leaves Donghun a little less worried. 

“Sit anywhere you guys want. Yuchan can pick a movie from the shelf.” Donghun says, smiling at Junhee as the other’s invaded the living room.

Yuchan is quick to approach the other, perhaps because he doesn’t know what they know. He’s excited to make friends and very, very interested in a cat. Latte seems to be hamming it up quite a bit with him, stretching out cutely in Junhee’s arms.

Donghun silently thanks Latte for being a conversation piece as he goes into the kitchen. He can hear Yuchan and Junhee talking as Yuchan seemingly coos over Latte. Now he just hopes that it goes well for the next few hours before he kicks them out so he can go to work.

Yuchan has moved to look through their selection of movies by the time that Donghun comes out with a few drinks for everyone else. Sprite - because that’s all they had in the fridge other than milk and water. Sehyoon is regarding Latte warily, not quite terrified - but perhaps a bit perplexed.

“Does she scratch a lot?” Sehyoon finally asks, nodding in thanks when Donghun presses a sprite into his hands.

Junhee hums. “Not really, I have a scratching board that I prop up against my wall that way she can use it. Plus she has a lot of toys.”

“Ah. So she’s friendly?”

“Overall, yeah. Gets a bit hissy when I try to brush her but I think I’d be mad too if I was sleeping and woke up to someone trying to brush my hair.” Junhee says with a grin. Donghun feels happy that it elicits a small laugh out of Sehyoon. Junhee looks relieved as well. “Want to pet her?”

Sehyoon regards the situation for a moment before nodding.

“Bring her over.” He says, small smile on his face as Junhee gets up with Latte scooped up like a baby.

Donghun is satisfied and continues to make the rounds by handing one to Junhee as soon as he settles down on the couch before moving to set a drink on the coffee table for Chan. Finally he walks off to set one in front of Byeongkwan, who has made himself comfortable at the dining room table. He huffs lightly, pushing the drink closer and leaning in.

“Socialize.” He whispers quietly, frowning. “You look cold and distant.”

“I’ll socialize in a bit.” Byeongkwan replies just as quietly, tilting his lips up into a smirk. “I’m observing.”

“He’s not a science project.” Is all Donghun says in return, ruffling Byeongkwan’s hair anyways before turning to direct his attention elsewhere. “What kind of movie are you going for, Chan?”

“Can I torture us and say a horror movie? You have a few nice ones.” Chan says with a pleased voice. “I doubt we’ll completely focus on the movie, anyway!”

Donghun casts a glance around, humming. “I’m fine with it. You guys?”

“Works for me.” Junhee says as well, tilting his head up from where he had been looking down at Latte in his lap. “I’d never watch them alone, so.”

“Agreed.” Sehyoon chips in. “I never can focus on a movie anyway.”

Donghun chuckles, listening for Byeongkwan’s chime in. Which does come in the form of a drawled out ‘sure’. Which he’ll take. Yuchan is more than pleased with the response, plucking the movie he had chosen. 

“I dunno how to work your television, though.” The youngest says dramatically, waving the movie case in his hands. Donghun just rolls his eyes, crossing the living room and snatching it from him to go set it up. 

“What are you majoring in, Junhee?” Donghun hears from somewhere behind him, registering it as Byeongkwan’s voice. 

“Acting and Vocal Performance.” Junhee says breezily. “I share a few classes with Donghun -”

“You’re a double major?” Byeongkwan asks, sounding a bit impressed. Good. Be impressed by his dorky roommate. "Your finals schedule must be hellish."

“Yep! Double major with no minor. I don’t hate myself that much.” Junhee chuckles. Byeongkwan snorts, but Donghun recognizes it as a good snort. "But yeah my finals schedule is a bit unpleasant, but I'm trying not to think about it right now."

Byeongkwan makes a noise of understanding, falling quiet again afterwards. This will work out, he decides. It’s not the most conventional, but it’ll work out.

“One of you call and order pizza.” Donghun commands. “Rock, paper, scissors for it. Whoever loses calls and pays for it when it arrives.”

“But I always lose.” Sehyoon complains.

“Then accept early defeat and do it now.” Yuchan chimes in. “Save us from wasting time.”

Chaos ensues behind him. He can hear Yuchan’s distressed squawk, the sound of a hand landing on some body part (he assumes stomach, really), the sound of Byeongkwan snorting -

Most of all, the sound of Junhee’s laughter. 

He sighs.

They’re still a bit awkward but only he can tell. To someone from the outside they probably look like they’ve been friends for awhile. But Donghun can tell how the other’s are a bit awkward in their conversation, can hear when they’re stalling. It’s nothing bad. They’re all just trying to get a read on Junhee to see where he fits into place - or if he’ll fit into place at all. 

Donghun sets the movie up and lets the main menu of it replay over and over as Sehyoon begrudgingly saves his pride and goes to order pizza in the quiet of the kitchen. He uses the opportunity to plop down in Sehyoon’s old spot, nudging Junhee as he did. The other regards him with a small smile. Junhee’s lap is surprisingly empty, devoid of Latte. Donghun does a quick scope of the living room, finally catching sight of the flurry fluffball who had gone to investigate Byeongkwan. Byeongkwan had seemingly decided to join them, sitting by the couch but just out of Donghun’s line of vision. It’s a start.

Byeongkwan was usually open to people - a little quicker than Sehyoon and a little slower than Yuchan. Donghun supposes that his ranting may have affected that a little. Still, he’s being receptive to Latte. Which is like a piece of Junhee.

He notices that Yuchan has taken up the vacancy on the other side of Junhee. He’s attracted Junhee’s attention through some various means, taking the worry away from Donghun’s shoulders. 

Watching Junhee interact with people was, well, weird. He hadn’t seen much of it outside of their shared class together - and even then the contact was limited. Of course he and Junhee had have conversations that lasted at least forty five minutes but with other people he was concise. Quick. Not necessarily rushing the discussion but certainly not trying to make it any longer than it should be. 

Meanwhile he literally debated with Donghun a few days ago whether cats or dogs would be better producers. To which the conversation had somehow spiraled into how horses would be the true producer.

(“They have hooves, Donghun!” Junhee states wildly, throwing his hands up into the air. “We’re idiots! They have four hooves that could make up more beats than any dog or cat could dream of!”

“I have an even better one for you, Junhee.” Donghun replies, grinning. “Goats.”

“Oh my god!”)

That had been one four in the morning conversation that he wished he had recorded. Mainly because he’s still not sure if it happened or if it was some weird fever dream.

Seeing ‘horses could kick a dog’s ass at producing’ Junhee turn into this civil, simple answered Junhee was vaguely kind of like watching a circus act. Junhee knew how to hold himself together well. Was that his parent’s teaching or just how he was? Donghun doubted that Junhee’s parents accepted any goofing around.

In theory, he’s convinced that Junhee’s sense of humor is derived off of whatever he’s encountered on all his social media. Which could...explain a lot of the bad jokes. A lot of internet jokes don’t translate well into real life.

Someone flicks the back of his head. He makes a big deal out of it, acting like he’s just been punched. When he glances up, he sees Sehyoon staring down at him with a bemused expression.

“I go to order us food and this is how you repay me? Stealing my spot?” Sehyoon states dramatically, tutting like some rich grandparent who just watched their son mix polka dots and stripes. “Shame on you.”

“Respect the elderly or suffer.” Donghun says cheekily. “Besides. My apartment my rules.”

“Our apartment.” Junhee corrects.

“My apartment.”

“Our apartment because you would be dead in a ditch without the coffee maker.” Junhee grins. 

“...Fine.” Donghun relents, clearing his throat. “Our apartment, our rules. Rule number one is to respect the elderly.”

“That’s the only rule.” Junhee adds on.

“That and locking the bathroom door.” Donghun reminds him. Though the regret that follows it is immediate.

“Yeah, gotta lock those doors in case y’all gotta get down and -” Byeongkwan hurries in, the grin on his face haunting.

“Literally finish that sentence and I will end you.” Donghun says in a deadpan tone, face already heating up despite it. Though he is relieved that it brought Byeongkwan's humorous side out. He just didn't want it to be because of that phrase. 

Byeongkwan dissolves into a fit of giggles. Yuchan just makes a confused noise before a gasp of realization and he can hear Sehyoon’s breathy laughter as the other rounds the couch to take a spot by Byeongkwan. Junhee’s shoulders are shaking next to him, laughter escaping him - full, genuine laughter. None of the polite stuff that he had been doing earlier.

If that’s what his shame is worth, Donghun will take it.

“Just save yourself and start the movie, Donghun.” Byeongkwan laughs breathlessly, waving him off. 

Distressed, Donghun fumbles with the remote and presses play. He prays for two things: Byeongkwan to lose that amused smirk on his face and for Junhee to always feel comfortable laughing like that. Even if Donghun has to make himself out to be a fool to get it. Junhee is slotting himself into their friend group well. Eating pizza together will finalize that; the true college bonding experience is forgetting that finals are looming closer by shoving your face full of carbohydrates and grease.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look at me keeping up with my schedule :P Anyways, Heartbeats is the longest I've ever dedicated myself to a fic so hurrah for that!
> 
> Updates:  
> \- I'll probably be changing my username..soon? Maybe after this fic is done but I'm still thinking about it. I've grown disenchanted with this username and, if I'm honest, have been for a long while. I've had it since I created this account years ago (2014!), but now that I'm actively posting under it I just feel..eh about it. I made this account in the past to actually post about original characters, but now here we are. (I’ve deleted all my old works because my god were those embarrassing..)  
> \- Vampire AU is getting way out of control in probably the best way possible because I have so much content I want to share and that means that! Parts! Get! Cut! Which means that anything that I can’t fit in but still want to share will get their own little shorter fics to accompany the main beast. Most of this pertains to backstories and such before the real story of the fic gets underway, so when I ultimately finish Heartbreaks, I’ll have something to post for you guys in the subsequent break I’ll be taking.

The rest of their movie day goes swimmingly well. As predicted, the movie gets forgotten relatively quickly when the pizza arrives. If anything, it had arguably already been forgotten before that. They made themselves busy with chattering, allowing Junhee to get to know them better.

Donghun quickly learns that Junhee is definitely not suited for the whatever polite shtick he had back at home. Sure, he’s polite. He’s polite as Yuchan makes a jab at Byeongkwan’s height, happily commenting that it’s okay to be little. Whether this was a two sided joke or not, Byeongkwan let out an exasperated exclamation of: ‘See, he gets it!’.

Junhee connects with Sehyoon by responding to Sehyoon’s vague comments - ones that they’d arguably ignore because they just didn’t know where the fuck they came from. 

So when Sehyoon mentioned something about how eating three eggs was actually a great thing to do in the middle of the night, Junhee asked him to elaborate.

And Donghun had tuned the both of them out, because he did not want to hear what ‘benefits’ that whole thing was.

Yes, Junhee was polite.

He glances over to the other now, who is eating pizza quite happily with his legs kicked up onto the coffee table.

Junhee is polite. But he’s also a student. And a little shit.

And the missing piece to their friend group.

He also seems to have a keen eye, because he’s munching on his pizza while watching how Sehyoon tries to ‘subtly’ scoot closer to Byeongkwan. It’s hard not to notice that, though. Byeongkwan himself takes notice, smiling dumbly and closing the distance. They even make sure that their plates of pizza are right next to each other.

Donghun shoots a glance at Yuchan across the room, raising his eyebrow. Yuchan just shrugs.

Well, if they start recreating the ‘Lady and the Tramp’ scene with a slice of pepperoni pizza, he might have to step in. But it does bring comfort that Junhee seems to catch on quickly that something is going on between the two. He’s probably going to piece it all together before those dumbasses do.

It isn’t until fifty minutes after the movie credits roll and forty minutes after the pizzas have been devoured that he chooses to kick the other three out.

He has work and he also fears that perhaps he’s forcing Junhee to over socialize. The other has been responding to every conversation directed at him for the last half hour, but hasn’t been doing much to chip into the others. Instead he’s comfortably petting Latte, who has taken residence back into his lap.

With happy goodbyes the other three leave, Junhee even offering to walk them down. Donghun smiles as the other four head out of the apartment. Latte seems a bit miffed about it all, seeing as she had just been starting to doze off in Junhee’s arms and she had been getting attention from Byeongkwan the whole time.

Sehyoon wasn’t the only one in love with him, apparently. Should he tell Junhee about this forbidden romance he had spotted?

Chuckling, he goes to clean up the pizza boxes and throw them into the trash. He really should’ve told them to order one extra that way they could have leftovers. Truth be told, he was still in the mindset that there was only four of them.

Junhee returns shortly after Donghun has started washing all the glasses that they were drinking out of. He plods into the kitchen happily, moving to instinctually take his place next to him.

They wash and rinse primarily in silence for the first few minutes, contently taking in each other’s quietness after the calamity they had with three other guys in their apartment.

After the fourth cup gets passed to Junhee’s side of the sink, Junhee casts a glance at the other.

“So, Byeongkwan and Sehyoon.” Junhee says, rinsing the cup out. “Has either confessed yet?”

“They’re that obvious, hm?” Donghun laughs quietly. He stalls his second remark by dipping his washcloth into the soapy water. “But no, neither has.”

“..You’re joking.”

“I wish I was.” Donghun says with a wistful noise. “Sehyoon’s been pining for far too long and I think Byeongkwan is finally starting to realize that the feelings he has for Sehyoon is more intense than just ‘really good friends’.”

Junhee tsks lightly, snorting. “They’re dumb.”

“Yeah, they are.”

“They’re a good match.” Junhee says after another moment, setting the cup into the drying rack and holding his hand out for the last one that Donghun was washing. “Maybe it’ll all click after finals.”

“As long as it’s before me and Sehyoon’s graduation, I’ll be happy.” Donghun replies. “But speaking of finals, are you ready for finals week?”

“Is anyone ever ready for finals week?” Junhee questions.

“Well, I have to say that I’m a bit worried for you.” Donghun says honestly, handing the final cup over and pulling the drain out of the sink. “Two majors while doing finals? Sounds a bit hellish if I’m honest.”

Junhee is quiet for a moment, rinsing out the cup thoughtfully.

“You seem to worry about me a lot.” He says after a few seconds.

“I always worry about my friends, thank you very much.”

The other breaks into a smile at that, shaking his head as he places the last cup on the rack and turning the water off.

“I promise you, I’ll be fine.” Junhee grins reassuringly. “If I believe it’ll all go smoothly, then it should go smoothly. Right?”

Donghun wants to tell him no. That isn’t how it works. You can hope for a smooth street and still hit a pothole. You can hope to see the best in a person and end up with a shit bag. Junhee’s whole concept seems a bit naive. But he’s smiling and looks like he believes it so much that Donghun just heaves a small sigh and nods.

“Don’t always overthink things, Donghun~” Junhee says breezily. “Sometimes you just need to sit back and pray that life is on your side.”

He doesn’t believe that life is on Junhee’s side for one minute. Still he finds himself nodding before casting his eyes off to the clock. Shit.

“I gotta go get ready for work, Junhee.” Donghun says, already stepping away from the counter. 

“Oh, okay!” Junhee nods understandingly. “I need to groom Latte and stuff, so.”

“We have a groomer at my work, you know. I could..” Donghun starts, leaving the question unfinished.

“You’d take her?”

“Consider it on the house.” 

Junhee smiles wider before tilting his head. “But why?”

“Cause you’ve been social all day. I think you need a nap.” Donghun laughs, waving his hand flippantly. “Seriously. Give me her carrier and you can curl up for a few hours.”

The other is certainly quick to accept the offer, whisking off to their room at a fast pace to go get her carrier. As soon as he’s back, he places it on the kitchen floor and unzips the flap. Donghun finds it adorable how excited Junhee is over this.

“I knew you’d warm up to her.” Junhee says from his crouched position on the floor. “You guys are finally becoming friends.”

They’ve already been friends - or well - Latte is friends with him because he gives food. Still Junhee seems even happier as he straightens up and goes off to capture Latte within the house. Donghun uses this as the moment to slip away and goes change into his clothes for work - a simple forest green shirt and work respectable pants. Also known as anything that didn’t look like he was ready to bum around the shop his whole shift.

When he comes back, Junhee is there with Latte comfortable in his arms, kissing the top of her head repeatedly. With how Latte is taking it, acting as if this was all normal, he can assume that Junhee does this far too often to her.

“You’re gonna hang out with Donghun today! He’s gonna make sure you’re nice and brushed! Maybe if you’re good he’ll give you snuggles later!” Junhee coos to his cat enthusiastically. Yet again, Donghun feels like he’d benefit greatly from someone who cared about him as much as Junhee cares about Latte.

Junhee places Latte in the carrier gently, zipping it up after leaving for a second to grab one of her felt toys and placing it in there with her.

“Be nice to her, yeah?” Junhee smiles, picking the carrier up. “She usually stays still when she’s getting groomed.”

“Well that’s cause it’s with you, Junhee.” Donghun snorts. “I’ll groom her if no one else can handle her.”

“Oh she’s rather docile, though.” Junhee says. “You know this.”

“I mean, I’d be docile too if you were brushing my hair.” Donghun says without really thinking. “But a stranger? I’m punching them.”

Junhee features light up like a damn set of string lights by the time Donghun fully registers what he just said. He’s quickly making a habit out of saying stupid shit around the other. Which is ridiculous, since just last week Junhee had loudly proclaimed how devastated he was over the fact that Donghun had better toothpaste than him. He wants to go back to that conversation. 

“Should I do your hair one day, Donghun?” Junhee asks cheekily, face ridiculously happy.

“I was simply relating myself to Latte, that’s all.” Donghun defends, pouting. “Don’t use it against me.”

Junhee’s face does not falter nor fall. Instead he looks even more gleeful than he did before. God dammit. It wasn’t supposed to be going like this. The other hands the carrier over, Donghun deftly taking it and pointedly avoiding eye contact.

“I wouldn’t complain if you did do it.” Donghun offers quietly. “As long as you don’t make me look like an idiot.”

He refuses to stick around for the answer, quickly moving out of the room with a tight grip on the carrier to grab his keys. 

“I’ll see you when I get back, Junhee.” He calls over his shoulder, pointedly ignoring the soft laughter coming from the kitchen. Instead he struggles to put his shoes on and leaves the apartment.

There’s a bit of fear as he walks down the hall, once the embarrassment has dissipated. Scared of someone looking in his bag. He doesn’t know why someone would do that - but it’s a possibility. So he makes a straight line to his car as soon as he’s exiting the lobby, only sighing in relief when he’s setting Latte on the passenger side seat and strapping the carrier in. He has no proper experience transporting a cat. Then again Junhee just puts her in the basket of his bike, so.

He’s still incredibly careful when he drives to work, minding every stop and signal tenfold.

“Junhee will murder me if there’s so much as a piece of fluff missing from you.” He says idly as he makes a turn out of the campus streets. “It won’t be a brutal death. Maybe he’ll drown me with my bedside water bottle. Or encase me in sheets like a mummy and crank the heater on and I’ll sweat my life away.”

If Latte has any opinions on that, she’s starkly keeping them to herself. Donghun finds that rather rude because if you have an idea on how someone is going to get murdered, you should probably let them know.

“If you have any ideas, don’t you dare tell Junhee!” He finds himself saying, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. Just a few months ago he was bagging on Junhee for talking to Latte like she understood. 

Now here he is, doing much of the same.

“Junhee isn’t all that bad, though.” He rambles, thrumming his fingers against the steering wheel at a red light just a few minutes later. “He’s dumb and goofy and perhaps a bit naive about finals week, but he’s nice. So excited about everything and so ready to make friends. He must’ve been very lonely at home, huh?”

Latte just scuffles around in her carrier as the light turns green.

“Well he’s not gonna be lonely anymore. He’s got me.” Donghun reassures. “And since he has me, that automatically means he has Yuchan, Sehyoon and Byeongkwan.” He grins stupidly. “So you can take a rest, Latte. You’ve been his one friend through all of it.”

This is ridiculous. But also remarkably therapeutic.

“He’s probably told you lots of sad things.” Donghun comments as he merges into the right lane. “Junhee has such a somber face when he’s not engaging in conversation. Have you ever noticed that, Latte? I’m sure you have. There are reports that you little felines are much more intune with our emotions than we think. But it’s okay, because he’s got people to talk to now. You won’t have to shoulder all the burdens of it. You can play and frolic whenever he and I sit down to talk, okay? Cause I’m gonna make sure he knows that he can talk to me.”

It finally fully registers what he’s doing. Donghun laughs nervously, keeping his eyes focused on the road. He stays quiet for the rest of the drive to work. In the end he gets there fifteen minutes early despite his careful driving, moving to steadily unbuckle Latte from the seat after getting out of the car and walking to the passenger door.

Donghun decides to step in early instead of loitering around, smiling brightly at Nayoung as she poked her head out from a random aisle. Adjusting the grip on Latte’s carrier, he nods his head in greeting.

“You’re early!” Nayoung says cheerily, eyeing the case. “And you have a friend!”

Donghun just chuckles lightly, nodding. “Yep! Offered to bring my roommates cat to get groomed. I told him that it’s on the house, but I plan on paying for it like a customer since there wasn’t an appointment made.”

Grooming was one of the newer features the shop had added. It definitely brought in the people who were too lazy to groom their pets - or couldn’t for whatever reason. His favorite customers lately had been an elderly couple who somehow, someway, manages to take care of an Irish Wolfhound. It’s adorable, apparently they had fostered her because she was part of the elderly dogs campaign at the shelter and just fell in love with her.

His second favorite goes to the rowdy squad of Italian Greyhounds - which he is thankful that he doesn’t have to groom. The youngest one likes gloves and the eldest thinks the blow dryer is actually satan. 

It’s hilarious to see Jisoo try to handle them because she insists that she can.

“Oh, I can groom them!” Nayoung says. “I’d be fine with finishing my shift with..?”

“Her name is Latte.”

“Cute~” She coos, happily ditching her work in the aisle. “Lets trade places, then. What kinda cat is she?”

Fuck. 

Junhee had told him this.

He searches his brain for a moment, clicking his tongue as he remembers.

“A Kurilian Bobtail.” He nods. “Sweet little thing, really. Responds to her name. My roommate is hiding her in our apartment and I figured she’d enjoy the new surroundings for a bit.”

“Ah, is there nothing more noble than risking your ass for a pet?” Nayoung giggles. “I housed a hamster and a gerbil in my dorm. Always had to send them off to the dorm across the hallway when the resident assistant rolled through.” She explains, moving to hold her hand out so Donghun could exchange the carrier to her.

“We haven’t had to do that yet.” He says, a little relieved. “Our campus has an apartment on it so we can get used to paying rent and such. We only get inspections if we’re complained about. We’ve been lucky so far.” Donghun grins, passing the carrier over to her.

“That’s good.” She nods. “So what am I giving her?”

“Grooming with no bath, maybe clean her ears and teeth? I’ll pay for it when I man the register after I clock in.”

“Got it.” She nods, looking down at the carrier. “Lets go Latte, time to get you all nice and pampered!”

Nayoung says nothing else as she turns and heads to their little grooming station. Donghun can see her set Latte’s carrier on the counter by the sink through the glass. She gets her out just fine, though Latte does look a bit confused as to why Donghun is not the one getting her out.

Once he’s deduced that Latte will not suddenly turn on Nayoung and take her as some sort of grooming hostage, he gots to the backroom to clock in and put on his apron, smoothing it over his clothes.

With Latte being looked after, Donghun happily rings up the cost of the grooming session, taking out his card to swipe it. Employees get a discount after all. He’d feel like he’d be cheating the system if he truly got it for free.

Once that is all said and done he contently wanders to the aisle Nayoung was in. She had been re-stocking the selection of rope toys for dogs - which is something Donghun will never understand. Why do dogs need such a wide selection of ropes? They’re all rope? Why are some camo? Why does one have a rubber duck at the end of it?

None of this makes any logical _sense_.

Still he re-stocks them diligently. Mainly because he always has the constant fear that the owners might check in on the shop on the one day where he slacks off. 

A few customers come in and out. One daschund owner who insists that the hotdog toy is some sort of irony as she proceeds to buy _six_ of them. 

Another customer entertains Donghun as he looks for something incredibly, disgustingly specific. By entertain, Donghun means that he wants to tear out his eyebrow hair. Not his hair because well. Junhee might brush it one day. He can’t lose it.

“I want a heating mat for my elderly cat.” The man says. “But not one made for dogs.”

“The dog ones come in different sizes, sir. You could find one that would fit your cats size fairly well. It’s a much larger selection too.” Donghun explains as the man scathingly looks at their way too small selection. 

“But those are for dogs.”

They’re fabric. It will not launch the man's cat off of it. It will not hurt the cat. It will not recognize that a cat is lying on it.

“Is this all the selection you have? For cats?”

“Yes, sir.” 

The man just scopes through it again, sighing flippantly. “Take me to the dog aisle, I guess.”

For the record, Donghun maintains his customer service smile as he leads the guy over to the dog aisle.

Surprise surprise, he finds one he likes.

In the dog aisle.

Like Donghun had suggested five previous times.

Anyways.

The guy ends up purchasing the mat and is walking out of the store right as Latte is brought out from the grooming room. He’s more than happy to see her, taking in the fluffiness of her coat as he strides over to hold out his arms. Nayoung hands her over easily, smiling as she adjusts a bright blue bow onto Latte’s collar.

“She deserved to have some fancy apparel.” Nayoung explains when Donghun looks at the bow inquisitively. “She’s a rather docile thing, isn’t she?”

Not really. She likes to attack his feet when he’s brushing his teeth. Not that Nayoung needs to know that though.

“She’s a wonderful little kitty.” Donghun laughs, petting a hand down Latte’s back. “How were her ears and teeth?”

“Very clean!” Nayoung says with a grin. “Your roommate cares for her really well.”

“He does.” Donghun nods. “He pampers her very well.”

“Good, she deserves it.” She says with a pleasant hum, smoothing down her apron. “I’m going to go clock out and leave it all to you, can you manage it?”

“Of course.” He smiles. “Have a good day, Nayoung.”

“I will!” She singsongs, already walking off to the back room.

Donghun just smiles and rocks Latte in his arms a bit before moving to set her on the checkout counter. She seems perfectly fine with lounging there for the next few minutes as Donghun idly scopes out the grooming room to make sure it had all been put away. Nayoung does a good job of cleaning up, though, so he shouldn’t have worried about it in the first place.

When he returns to the counter he can see Nayoung’s fleeting frame through the glass door as she walks out into the parking lot.

“Did she treat you well, Latte?” He asks, immediately cooing. “She gave you such a pretty bow!”

Latte seems disinterested at best, more keen on sniffing around the counter before looking down the side. Now reasonably, he knows that the jump wouldn’t hurt her one bit - he’s seen her jump up onto the counters of their apartment after all.

But still.

“Wanna go down?” He questions, moving to pick her up and gently settle her on the ground. “Go explore, okay?”

She doesn’t leave him right away, content with sniffing at his shoes. He does worry about the door being her grand escape plan, but she’s never bolted for their apartment door before so he doesn’t think it’s a cause for concern.

He’ll still keep an eye on it though.

Donghun goes about his duties of restocking and reorganizing the store shelves. Some idiot decided to put all the stuff they didn’t want on some random shelf instead of where they belonged. He mentally curses that whoever did that burns their dinner tonight. 

But whenever he hears the door open, he makes sure to be out of an aisle to make sure that Latte doesn’t dart out.

Latte is spotted in the leash aisle, so he’s fine with dedicating his full attention to the new customer.

“Welcome!” Donghun calls out cheerily. “If you need help with anything just let me know!”

The girl just nods pleasantly as she goes to browse. Donghun just nods and returns to correctly put away all the misplaced items. He can hear her walking down one of the aisles, converse shoes squeaking along the tiled floor. Part of him prays that she doesn’t cross paths with Latte because he doesn’t want to deal with questions.

Once he finishes putting everything back where it should be, he heads back to the check out stand to wait on the girl that had come in.

He loses track of where she is in favor of boredly flipping through the pamphlets on the counter. Donghun has read this specific one five hundred times at this point, but all the others are even more boring. Soon enough to sound of footsteps approaches the counter and he quickly cocks his head up to look and smile at the other. 

She holds up a bag of dental sticks proudly, placing it on the counter along with a few small assorted toys. 

“This all?” He asks politely, grabbing the dental sticks.

“Yep!” She grins, clearing her throat. “Is that your cat, by the way? The one wandering around.”

Well. He should’ve expected her to notice a living creature wandering around.

“My roommates, actually.” He clarifies. “She just needed a change of scenery.”

“Aw, how cute!” She exclaims. “It’s nice of you to be willing to bring her to work.”

Is it nice? He supposes it is. 

He just nods as he tries to figure out what to say. “Yeah. I think she likes it here.”

The girl just nods, gaze shifting to the price as he scans the rest of the items. She pays for them happily as he carefully places them into a bag, waving as she collects all her belongings and heads towards the exit. Once she’s gone he breathes a sigh of relief, moving to scope out where Latte was.

Donghun finds her sniffing at all the different types of cat scratchers. As he recalls, they don’t necessarily have a suitable one for her - they can’t just put up a regular cat scratching tower out of fear that a random complaint will get them caught red handed with a cat.

“Which ones are you looking at, hm?” He asks, crouching down to her level to look. 

Oh, there’s a lounging cat scratch pad. They could always push that under the couch in case of emergency. He looks up at the hanging options, spying one that they could hang around the doorknob to their bedroom. Ah. That would work nice too.

“Hey Latte, what do you think about these, huh?” He asks, standing up momentarily to grab the hanging one before crouching down to pull the flat one off the shelf. He plops it on the ground in front of her, smiling. “Do you like them?”

She, at the very least, takes interest in the items. She sniffs at them curiously before stepping on the pad and walking over it to continue on her way. Donghun scoffs a bit at that, picking the pad back up either way and following after her. 

Latte takes special interest in the selection of cat toys, going as far as standing up on her hind legs to sniff at the higher shelf. Donghun watches idly, shifting the scratching pad in his hands before clicking his tongue. He heads off to put them behind the counter, dusting off his hands and wandering back to check on her.

She seems to have taken interest in a stuffed bear - something Donghun wasn’t quite aware that they sold. He glances at it, taking it off the shelf and looking it over.

Ah. 

A dog toy. That’s why he didn’t recognize it from here. He squeezes it a few times to make sure that there is no squeaker in it before glancing at Latte. She hasn’t lost focus on it, eyes following his every move. So he gently went to place the bear by her, smiling fondly when she immediately went to pick it up and plod away with it in her mouth. Well. Add that to the list.

If Junhee asks, all of this stuff was on clearance. 

Donghun just feels like pampering Latte for once. Usually it’s Junhee painstakingly sewing together bits of fabric that he goes out to buy - stuffing it himself. Donghun turns his head, surveying the shelf and snagging a cat charmer off the shelf. It’s basically just a fancy piece of cloth held to a stick to resemble a small version of the fabric a dancer might twirl.

Still, he thinks Latte will like it. 

He grins pleasantly and heads back to the register to place it alongside the scratchers. 

The rest of his shift passes slowly, the sun outside starting to dip as sunset comes closer.

He finally gets to clock out at just around six thirty. Still he goes to hunt down Latte, hoisting her up and bringing the bear (which she had surprisingly kept carrying around) to the counter so he can scan everything. Donghun makes a face at the price, more of a wince than anything, but Latte seems to be completely content with everything.

He heads into the grooming station to retrieve her carrier, loading her in while he waits for whoever is supposed to take his shift.

Jaeyoung appears after a few minutes of waiting, waving at Donghun as he walks in to the back room. He and Jaeyoung don’t talk much - he just knows that they both go to the same school. He smiles down at the carrier, gripping it tightly as he exited the building and took in a deep breath.

The drive home is pleasant once he gets everything loaded in. He tries to pitch how exactly he paid for all this. Would Junhee believe it if it were all on clearance? It’s not like he knows the store. Well, he does. He just doesn’t know that Donghun works there.

Donghun takes a deep breath. He’ll figure that out if that question even arises. If anything Junhee will just be happy to see Latte again.

Latte will be Junhee’s main priority anyway - Donghun is bringing her home right around feeding time. 

Donghun gets home with barely any traffic, pulling into his parking space at about twenty five minutes past seven. 

But he does encounter one specific problem - how is he supposed to get the scratchers in there? There was an assigned RA (which he still finds stupid because this is supposed to be an apartment), so they were patrolling right now. 

He glances at the hanging scratcher, picking it up and unzipping Latte’s carrier to slide it in with her, apologizing softly at disturbing her slumber. As an added apology, he decides to squeeze the bear in as well, thanking the creator of it that it was a small thing.

Picking the carrier up and locking up his car, he walks up to the apartments and takes a breath before stepping inside. 

There’s no RA in sight, much to his relief. So he all but scurries to the elevator, causing Latte to meow when he accidently jostles her. He hushes her softly, to which she mews again in a more unhappy response. Donghun grimaces, pressing his floor number and bouncing on his heels as the doors close and the elevator starts taking him up. 

One bolt of panic hits him, though, when the RA is walking past the elevator as he moves to step out. She’s going in the opposite way from their apartment, causing Donghun to walk as quickly (yet non-suspiciously) as possible. Silently he prays that Latte won’t make any noise. It’s not like the girl in question has super hearing - but their floor is currently very quiet. 

He tries to keep himself from being too suspicious. It wouldn’t do any good to get caught now. 

Donghun carefully reaches their room, turning his head back down the corridor and letting out a breath. The RA is knocking on a door from the opposite end, waiting to be let in. Donghun fumbles for his keys as he trains his eyes on the door, unlocking it and letting himself in quickly and closing the door behind him. He wastes no time in taking off his shoes and walking into the living room, sighing out as he places Latte’s carrier on the couch.

“Okay sweetheart.” He murmurs quietly, unzipping the case and taking the bear and hangable scratching pad out. “You’re free. Just be quiet, okay?”

Latte is quick to free herself from the container, bounding off the couch and fluffing herself off before scampering off. He just smiles as he watches her run off. He picks the carrier up, moving to walk towards their room. There’s a soft light escaping the cracked slit from their nearly closed door. Seeing as his roommate is nowhere else to be found, he can assume that he’s in there.

Just as he’s about to open the door to announce his return, Junhee’s voice leaks out into the hallway.

“ - No, you can’t just call me out of the blue like this.” Junhee says, voice dripping with some form of negativity that Donghun wasn’t even aware that Junhee was capable of. Quickly he drops his hand, stepping back from the door. “I’m doing my own thing now - I’m an adult you know.”

Donghun bites at his lip, considering if he should just walk back to the living room or not.

“No, I’m not telling you where I’m studying. I left for a reason and I don’t care how I’m related to you, I’m not going to go crawling back to you. I’m taking care of myself, thanks.” Junhee snaps out. Donghun can practically feel the toxicity in it.

He presses his lips together, electing his earlier thought of going to the living room. This conversation seems to be a private one - one that he should not be listening in on. So quietly he turns on his heels and departs, ambling back to the living room and plopping Latte’s carrier next to the couch. 

Carefully moving Latte’s new toy and scratcher onto the coffee table, he sprawls out on it. With a content hum he leans forward to grab the remote and flick the tv on. Quickly he lowers the volume, forgetting that he had it up higher since the movie was quiet. Briefly he wonders if he should feed Latte while Junhee is on the phone - but the lazier part of him wants him to stay on the couch. Which he can’t argue with since it feels nice to lay down after awhile.

Flipping through the channels, he finally settles on one airing a cooking competition. These shows are always humorous, seeing the anguish of amateur chefs is something he lives for. Part of him believes that he’d do fantastic on a show like that. The more logical part says he’d be just like any of the other dumbasses.

Yet he can’t fully invest himself into the show. The thought of someone making Junhee speak like he was is insane to him. It’s not hard to piece together who he’s probably talking to - the comment ‘I don’t care how I’m related to you’ is enough to really pinpoint it. But he and Junhee haven’t talked about that kind of stuff yet. It’s one of the moments where he regrets giving Junhee’s name to Byeongkwan. If Byeongkwan hadn’t snooped, he wouldn’t know about Junhee’s family before Junhee told him about them.

But at the time he didn’t expect a decent friendship to become a thing. More than a decent friendship, really - Junhee was someone he was quickly considering that he could trust. From how he helped out in their mutual class to how Donghun has poked his head into the other’s random classes once or twice (Junhee’s theatrics teacher had a terrible habit of keeping the door open), he’d always see Junhee doing something helpful.

Like helping another kid over their lines, or help someone practice their notes in their mutual class. Their teacher had taken a shining to him as much as she had to Donghun - relying on both of them to help her out when she asked a question and wasn’t getting any answers.

Junhee was reliable. Clumsy. But reliable. 

And now Donghun feels like he can’t do shit for Junhee in this situation. Has Junhee eaten already? Donghun could cook something for him, maybe?

No. He shouldn’t encourage stress eating. 

Ask him what’s wrong? But what if Junhee doesn’t want to say anything? Then he’ll just look like he’s being nosy. 

If Junhee snapped at him tonight he’d let it roll off his back without thinking too deeply about it. But he doesn’t want it to get to that point.

He grunts and presses his cheek bitterly against the arm rest. 

There isn’t anymore time to dwell on it after a few minutes of self pity over not being able to help his roommate. The sound of muted footsteps comes down the hall and Donghun finds himself quickly pushing himself up to look over the back of the couch.

Junhee is wearing the same thing he was when Donghun had left for work, the only difference being that his hair looks a little messy as if he’d been laying in bed. Donghun can’t get a good read on his face, seeing as Junhee takes a sharp turn into the kitchen before he can focus properly. If anything, it looks like he’s sulking a bit.

He’ll let Junhee initiate the conversation. If there’s any conversation to be had. 

Donghun plops himself back down against the arm rest. Feeling useless sucks ass. He can hear Junhee opening and closing the refrigerator and placing something on the counter. 

It doesn’t take much more time before Junhee makes his way into the living room and towards the couch. Donghun’s been doing his best to remain focused on the show at hand, only breaking eye contact with the tv when Junhee pats at his legs. He glances down, blinking in realization that Junhee wants to sit down. Without a word he bends his legs to open up room for the other to sit down. 

Junhee just hums in thanks and settles himself down. Donghun is a bit uncomfortable laying like this - it would be wise to sit up at this point. But he’s just a tad too lazy to do that. Silence unfolds over them for awhile, both quietly taking in the failures of the contestants on the show.

“Did Latte behave?” Junhee asks after the show flashes previews for the next episode. “I noticed she was wearing a bow.”

It’s not necessarily the conversation Donghun thought they’d have, but he’ll take talking over stiff awkwardness.

“Ah, yeah. She was great.” Donghun replies. “She got the bow as an added bonus.” 

He can see Junhee nod out of the corner of his eyes, shoulders losing their tensed posture.

“How about work in general, any assholes?”

It’s not often that Junhee swears - he hasn’t heard it since their little spats during the first few weeks of living together. If he didn’t already know that Junhee was in a bad mood, that would have been a dead give away.

“Not really - except for this guy who spent most of his time there insisting that a heating mat for dogs would be too inferior for his cat. He didn’t say it like that but I could feel it.”

“Dumb.”

“Very dumb.” Donghun agrees, turning so that he was on his back and able to stare at Junhee better. “How was it here? Lonely without Latte?” 

“Mm. That’s a way to put it.” Junhee sighs out, stretching against the back of the couch. “Had to talk to someone rather unpleasant, but other than that I slept.”

“Someone unpleasant?” Donghun questions.

“Someone unimportant.” Junhee amends, huffing. “Don’t worry about it.”

Mm. But Donghun wants to worry about it. He wants to worry about Junhee a lot more than he’d like to admit. His lips twitch with the urge to say that but he swallows it down. Instead he licks his lips and adverts his gaze to the to fabric of the cushions.

“Well. If you ever want to talk about it..” Donghun trails off, unsure. “Just know that you can talk to me whenever you want. I know I haven’t been incredibly verbal about it but..I am here if you ever need someone to vent to.”

Junhee smiles at that. “I know you are, Donghun.” He says. “You’re a very kind person.”

Heart singing at the light praise, Donghun can’t help but feel a bit proud that he had somehow made that apparent despite not being overwhelmingly vocal about it. Junhee, for all that their friendship is worth, trusts him.

“Well, if you don’t want to talk about the person that called you, then, I can show you what I got for Latte?” Donghun says in attempt to keep the conversation light. “They were cheap, so don’t worry about the price.”

Junhee’s interest seems piqued, looking over at Donghun properly for the first time. 

Donghun just grins, leaning forward to reach for the bear and the scratching board. Junhee looks like he’s just noticed these for the first time. 

“Latte really liked the bear! She wouldn’t put it down whenever I saw her with it.” Donghun explains, waving said toy around in his hands. “It has no squeaker in it or anything, so it’s as silent as her fabric squares.” 

Junhee nods and reaches out to lightly take it from him. Their fingers meet briefly and Donghun remembers how he would’ve jerked his hand back in the past. Interesting. Junhee weighs the bear in his hands, squeezing it playfully. It looks a lot bigger than it is in Junhee’s palm. Though they’ve been over how Junhee’s hands are a bit small - but Junhee would argue that Donghun’s hands are just large.

“And the other thing?” Junhee asks.

“It’s like a scratching pad but you can hang it.” He says simply. “I know that Latte’s nails are a bit sharp, but if we could teach her that she can scratch on this while we hang it like..on the wall by a hook or on a door, I think she’d use it.” He shrugs. “Besides, it’s not like we can bring a standard one in - I have a flat one in my car, too, but I had a feeling that the RA was active and didn’t want to risk it.”

“Fair.” Junhee murmurs. “I can show her where it is once we hang it.” He nods before continuing. “You really didn’t have to buy this for her..”

“I felt like spoiling her.” Donghun smiles. “Plus it seems to have cheered you up a considerable amount.”

Junhee just chuckles lightly at this, nodding. 

Cute.

Junhee’s cute. 

That’s what has been bugging him lately.

He clears his throat.

“Have you had dinner?” He asks, sitting up. Junhee just shakes his head no, a muted answer leaving his lips. “Want me to cook something?”

“As much as I love your cooking - I want to eat out. Kinda. I’ll pay and stuff.” Junhee mumbles sheepishly, tossing the doll back and forth between his hands. “Or like - maybe go to the dining hall? It’s still open right?”

Donghun glances at the clock and nods affirmatively. “I’m fine with dining hall food. I haven’t had it in a while.”

Junhee straightens up a bit, mood brighter. “I have to feed Latte and then we can go.”

“Alright, I’m going to go to the bathroom and then I’ll meet you out here.” Donghun says, pausing before lightly patting at Junhee’s knee as he gets up. “I’m glad to see you in a better mood.”

“I’m glad to be in one.” Junhee muses, getting up as well. Donghun can tell that he’s still not in the best mood. But. It’s better. A hearty dinner would do the other good.

With that he wanders down off and down the hallway to the bathroom. He leans against the doorframe for a moment, flicking on the light before dragging his feet to the sink. Overall he kind of wishes that the other would have suggested a restaurant or something - something fancier or greasier that way they could drown their worries in extra calories. But he realizes, vaguely, that Junhee probably hasn’t had dining hall food with a friend before - he’s sure that the other has run out to the dining hall in between classes. Yet there’s no way that he would’ve sat down and eaten there, especially if he’s alone.

This would be a nice experience for him, to live life completely as a normal college kid. Or - as normal as one could be in a rich school. Donghun reckons that’s why Junhee wanted to eat at the dining hall to begin with. 

Well, he’s not going to change his mind and recommend a restaurant for them to go to. After a pause of looking at himself in the mirror, he turns on the water to clean his face. He wants to at least feel fresh while they’re out in public. He regrets his decision less than ten seconds later when he feels the water run of his chin and does his neck, dripping into the hem of his shirt.

That gives Junhee a few more minutes, grumbling as he shuts the water off and marches to their room and tugs his shirt off. For a moment he fears that Junhee will walk in - but really why is he so worried about that? There’s no real reason as to why he should be.

So he stands around shirtless for a few minutes while he rummages around through his drawer of shirts, frowning as he focuses. Finally he finds a nice soft one, hurrying to tug it over his head and shutting his drawer a little louder than he means to.

Smoothing down the new fabric, he spins on his heels and heads back into the living room, smiling when he sees that he’s caught Junhee right as he’s finishing washing his hands. 

“She’s fed.” Junhee confirms, smiling. “You changed.”

“The water and I got in a fight and I lost.”

“I...okay.” Junhee giggles. “So, food?”

Donghun just nods, letting Junhee prance out of the kitchen before him as he follows after leisurely. Junhee is shoving on his converse as Donghun wearily puts his shoes back on - he was kind of excited over not having to leave the apartment again tonight.

In the long run he knows this will be nice. They eat together all the time but it’s rarely out of the apartment. This will be a fun experience, even if it’s just eating dinner.

All he has to do is think about it like that to motivate himself to be a bit more enthusiastic. Especially since it’ll improve Junhee’s mood.

“I’m not taking my phone, by the way.” Junhee says as he opens the door. “Just..don’t want it around.”

“Understandable.” Donghun nods, patting his pocket. “I have mine so we’re all good.”

Junhee grins, holding the door open for Donghun. Donghun looks in Latte’s general direction, whispering a soft goodbye out of fear that the RA is still around their floor. Better safe than sorry. Junhee takes his lead and does the same.

They head out into the hallway, Donghun locking the door behind the other as soon as Junhee walks out. He twirls the key ring around on his finger, tilting his head at the other before starting to walk. Junhee perks up the slightest bit and follows after.

The RA isn’t in sight as they get into the elevator, nor is she around the lobby as they’re walking through it. Maybe she finished her shift and she’s switching out with one of the others. Not like he really cares enough, but if he had known he would have just waited so he could take the other scratching pad up to their apartment.

Junhee just keeps walking while Donghun slows down a bit. This makes him pick up his pace again, walking into the chilled air of nightfall. 

“Should we have brought jackets?” Junhee muses.

“Nah.” Donghun shakes his head. “The walk there will make us warm - plus it’s not even that far.”

“Fair.” Junhee nods, walking close to the other. 

At some point their footsteps sync up with each other. It’s an interesting little thing he’s noticed - they take the same length of strides as well. All the same simple pattern but yet it feels like their thing. Even though it can happen with anyone. But with Junhee it’s just nice for whatever reason.

Junhee also walks especially close or especially distanced - tonight seems to be a close night. The phone call is no doubt a cause of it, but Donghun still appreciates when their arms brush as they walk. There’s just something about it that he loves.

And he’s sure that if he dives deep down into the very center of his thoughts and feelings, he could figure out why he enjoys it so much. But he’s lazy at the best of times when it’s dealing with deeper emotions, so he’ll get to that when it becomes a pressing issue.

For now he’ll just enjoy a walk with his friend. 

The fact that it’s really pretty out tonight makes the chill a bit more bearable. Junhee is constantly looking up at the stars that are painting the darkening sky. Several times Donghun has to guide him so he doesn’t trip over uneven pavement. Then they laugh about it and the process seems to repeat itself a few more times.

It’s approximately nine at night when they arrive at the dining hall and Donghun thanks every star in the sky that the place is open until midnight. The hours will extend when the testing weeks begin - that’s probably when they get the most activity. 

Donghun ends up being thankful that they’re here at this time - the dinner wave has subsided. There’s still a fair share of tables taken up and some of the closer food lines are still relatively long. Which means there’s good food out today. 

Beside him, Junhee glances around.

"You know what I've noticed?" He asks as they start walking past the tables. 

"Hm?"

"That you only have to have someone check your school id to be able to eat free food here." Junhee says. "My old school had us scan our id through a kiosk and then we'd still have to pay for some things."

"Oh." Donghun had never really considered that before. All they do have to do here is give their id to whoever is running the station and they'll scan it to confirm that you're a student that paid for a meal plan. Which most kids got anyway - it's not like anyone without a meal plan is coming into a place that requires one. "Yeah, uh. The free food can be considered a nice benefit, huh?"

"Yeah. Plus the food here is much better than the food at my old school." The other says, stopping to grab a tray and hand it over to Donghun before taking his own.

"That's rich kid money for you." Donghun says with a shrug, gripping his tray brightly and nodding with a smile. "The only reason all this food is free is because the school makes enough money out of us to be like 'hey, here's some gourmet food thanks for bleeding for us'. Truly a business once you get down to it."

Junhee laughs at that, nodding.

"They'll bleed us dry by the end of it all."

"Mhm."

Donghun guides the younger towards the food bars without the lines. He says that this is gourmet food and it is - though it's not anything you'd actively find in a restaurant. It's just that all of the food is nicer and able to be called an actual meal. He's seen horror stories from other colleges and universities.

"Go get your food and grab a table when your done. Also. Consider finding some stuff that you'd be willing to smuggle out of here that way we can stock our apartment with goodies that way we can cry into them when testing starts." Donghun says with a grin, nudging the other before walking off. Junhee just huffs a laugh at the other's comment as he goes his own way.

Choosing what he wants to eat is always a challenge. The pickings for tonight are either extremely healthy or extremely greasy - and he doesn't know which one he feels more inclined to. 

He finally decides on approaching the dessert bar first because his moral compass is busted. After some struggling he procures his id from his wallet and passes it over to the nice worker behind the station, humming happily as they scan his id and hand it back. It'd be fairly easy to get away with not getting his id scanned, he assumes. But he's always willing to follow the rules if they're not stupid. He slides his id and wallet back into his pocket, grabbing a plate and moving to look through all the available desserts. 

There's the classic chocolate cake slices that he's personally not a fan of - the frosting is too thick for him, at least. There's also jello but that's always a hit or miss thing to him. He bites at his lip, surveying all the meals.

Finally he decides on the deep dish brownie, serving a piece onto his plate before moving on. He also grabs a few sugar cookies and, begrudgingly, the same slice of cake that he hates the frosting on. He'll just scrape it off or something.

From dessert he wanders over to what most of the students call the ‘fast food’ bar. Which is pretty self explanatory; hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries and any other food that they could find in local fast food joints. Donghun himself picks up a (probably unrecommended) pile of fries and a cheeseburger. He stalls at the very end of the bar to pick up a vanilla milkshake because, really, he’s here to treat himself. 

He does grab a salad to prove that he cares about his health.

As his tray fills up, he finds himself inching over to the cereal area - they have cereal available with every meal, changing the flavors throughout the day. He’s happy to grab two styrofoam bowls and fill up one of them to the brim with fruity pebbles. This is something he’s going to take back to the apartment. It’s only a breakfasts worth of cereal, but hey. Food is food.

It’s not until his tray looks like a food platter at a party that he decides to head back to the seating area. He scopes out all the food bars as he walks, looking around for Junhee. However he doesn’t spot the other, so he continues on his way.

Junhee is relatively easy to find out in the seating area, despite having brown hair like a good population of those around. He’s taken up one of the two person tables in between a few potted plants; sitting as he pokes around at his plate. Dumbass. He could have started eating without Donghun.

Huffing lightly he crosses the distance, bracing his tray tightly. Junhee perks up at the other, eyes going wide at the expansive range of food on his tray.

“Don’t have a heart attack, some of this is leaving with us.”

“Oh. Okay.” Junhee grins, sitting up a bit straight as he sits down. 

Donghun takes a quick glance at the other’s plate. Hm - not as keen on filling it up as he is. Then again he does notice that there is an obscene amount of cookies off to the side wrapped in a napkin. Ah.

Interesting that they both didn’t choose anything considerably healthy. 

At least Junhee has more fruit on his tray - Donghun can spy the bright orange that indicates fresh cantaloupe in a small bowl next to a mixed plate of vegetables, thinly sliced beef and some fish sticks.

Well.

His meal is more well balanced than Donghun’s. 

“You could have started eating, y’know.” Donghun says, nodding at how Junhee had moved around all the food on his plate. “I wouldn’t have been mad or anything.”

“I wanted to eat with you.” Junhee mumbles. “So I did.”

Aw. That’s really cute. Disgustingly cute, really. 

"Well, you can eat now then." Donghun chuckles, picking up the cheeseburger and taking a bite right afterwards. 

The other surveys him for a moment, smiling dumbly and spinning his fork in his hands a few times before digging in. Their usual meal time silence follows, even when they're out in public. Donghun finds it interesting, really. He thought he'd have to stress and try to keep a conversation going since they're not in the apartment, but Junhee is perfectly okay with keeping their tradition up. They'll talk when they have something to say or if they get bored of what they're eating. The latter rarely happens and the former always starts usually half way through their meal.

Idly chewing, Donghun pulls the milkshake closer so he can take a sip. 

Junhee, by all accounts, still looks a little put out from earlier. Thinking for a moment, Donghun has an idea for a simple solution but ultimately enjoys eating for a while longer before bringing the topic up. He also waits for Junhee to at least finish his fish sticks - mainly so he can mentally giggle at how the man eats them with a fork. Why not just use his fingers? Junhee glances at him just then and Donghun just chuckles and grins. 

"Hm?" Junhee hums out, mouth still closed while chewing.

"Nothing." Donghun shrugs. "Keep eating." He says before finishing off the cheeseburger. 

He takes joy in eating the salad, decidely forcing his body to believe that he's feeding it a healthy diet. Maybe he should get Sehyoon to go to the gym with him. Maybe he'll do that at the end of their finals week as a little celebration work out. At least, he'll see it as a celebration. Sehyoon will just whine about it for a bit like he always does with gym days.

By the time Donghun finishes his salad, Junhee is poking around in the bowl of cantaloupe. Donghun heaves a quiet sigh, moving to pull out his phone to check the temperature outside. It's sixty six degrees, which could arguably be seen as cold to some people. But there isn't much wind, so it isn't too bad. His idea is to take Junhee on a walk to their little field and look up at the stars for awhile - but the cold might not allow them to do that for long.

Well, he could leave it up to Junhee, he supposes.

"Hey." He says, laying his phone flat on the table. "Do you want to go back to the apartment immediately after eating or..?"

The other just raises an eyebrow, fork stilling.

"Well. Not really, but." Junhee shrugs. "What else could we do?" 

"I know it's a little cold, but the stars are out!" He exclaims a little excitedly, voice hushed. "It's always relaxing to sit under the stars after a particularly long day. Your mood is a little down, so I think it'd be nice if you were out of the apartment for awhile."

"Oh." The younger says, blinking at the other. 

Donghun's thoughts falter, suddenly worried. Maybe Junhee doesn't like star gazing like he did -

"I've never really..stopped to admire the stars." Junhee hums. Donghun finds that absolutely ridiculous. Junhee was admiring them as they started to appear on the walk over here! How has he never stopped and sat down to watch the sky for awhile?

"Then we're going, if that's fine with you." Donghun concludes. "We can go back into the food area and get some coffee and go star gaze."

"After we finish eating?" Junhee asks.

"I'm not going to force you to stop eating, the stars will still be there when we leave."

Junhee suddenly looks akin to a little kid being offered a shiny toy if they finish their vegetables. He eats a bit quicker, Donghun chuckling lightly as he picks up his fork and drags the deep dish brownie to the middle of his tray. 

"Don't eat so fast that you choke." He advises the younger in an amused tone. 

They finish their meals relatively quick - Donghun eating quicker just because Junhee is. It's nice to see him back to being a bit more excited. Junhee even offers to take their trays and to go grab the coffees and Donghun doesn't even get a word in to protest before he's already doing it. Instead he settles for organizing the food they're taking out with them - three cookies and the fruit loops. He stacks the cookies neatly on top of the cereal, placing the second bowl he had gotten upside down over it to make a lid.

The moment of solitude does allow him to pick up his phone and shoot off a message towards the group chat, though. 

**(9:53 PM) Donghun:**  
_Hey if I get a cold anytime in the next week I'll need one of you to come kick my ass._

**(9:53 PM) Yuchan:**  
_??? o.o_

**(9:54 PM) Donghun:**  
_Me and Junhee are going stargazing._

**(9:54 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_ohohohohoohohoho stargazing??? cute_

**(9:55 PM) Yuchan:**  
_and you're not dressed warmly?!_

**(9:55 PM) Donghun:**  
_It was a spur of the moment thing don't criticize me. We went out to eat and I just kinda thought of it just now and he's fine with it._

**(9:55 PM) Yuchan:**  
_well I hope he'd be Fine With It!! What else you gonna do, bully him into going??_

Hah. It'd probably be easy to do that, but no. He would not be bullying Junhee more than a few friendly jabs. 

What he doesn't like is Byeongkwan typing. Or his next message.

**(9:57 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_kinda sorta sounds like a date to me ;o_

And where there's Byeongkwan causing mischief, Sehyoon isn't far behind.

**(9:57 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_that feel when donghun probably smoothly asks a guy out without realizing it._

He hates them all. Except Yuchan, who seems to just be there for the fun of it as he chimes in with a string of crying emojis. 

"Someone giving you grief?" Junhee sudden reappearance startles him a bit, nearly throwing his phone. Instead he just offers a playful glare at the other before nodding.

"The guys are picking on me, that's all." Donghun hums as Junhee places his coffee in front of him, complete with a lid. "Thank you."

"Mhm." Junhee says, still stirring his coffee around, lid popped off and placed on the edge of the table as he sits down. "Guys as in Byeongkwan and such?"

"Yep."

"You'll survive." Junhee grins. "What are they picking on you over?"

Donghun grins slightly, glancing down at the messages before back to Junhee. "Nothing important. Just scolding us for not dressing properly."

"Mm. Wise friends." Junhee snickers. "But you gotta live on the wild side sometimes."

"If your definition of the 'wild side' is not wearing a coat to go stargazing, I fear what your concept of the term 'let's get fucked up' is."

"Jenga but everyone's blindfolded." Junhee replies very quickly. "Think about it. Think about the chaos."

Okay. Okay that's fair. 

Donghun shakes his head and types out one last message to the others. 

**(10:01 PM) Donghun:**  
_Not a date._

Junhee pops the lid onto his cup.

"Ready to go?" Donghun asks, slipping his phone into his pocket.

"Yeah, whenever you are."

He wouldn't have asked if Junhee was ready if he wasn't ready himself. Still he nods his head, picking up the coffee and stands up.

They're going to go look up at the night sky and Donghun is going to pointedly ignore his dumbass friends as they squabble over what makes a date a date. He can hear the specific chime that he set for Sehyoon's messages - and he feels like he already knows what it might be about - but he'll worry about that later.

Because right now is the perfect time to relax.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again staying on time with my update schedule. This chapter was, frankly, a bit of a bitch to write for whatever reason. I think the gradual changing of the seasons is messing with my levels of motivation because I'm tired and don't want to write. But I'm chugging along because I know that if I sit idle on a fic I won't complete it because that's just how I am.  
> I also meant to post this like three hours ago but then I got side tracked because I started watching a Fortnite stream OTL anyways I'll look over this for more typos later but my eyes hurt from looking at all the text 
> 
> Updaaaaaaaaaaaaates:  
> \- I have the ending for this fic written out. While I can't say that the end is necessarily _near_ , I will say that I can see the end in sight now. It's merely a debate now on if I want to try and crank out two chapters a month or not. In general I can write about 1k - 2k words in one sitting before my attention span lures me elsewhere. So really if I wanted to write two chapters of Heartbeats I could since it's just the fact that I know how lazy I am as a person and a writer that's stopping me ;;  
> \- Heartbeats is annoying me because some of the things I want to happen don't have any stable grounding to happen yet and it's FRUSTRATING.  
> \- Vampires is a behemoth and I've put in so much fucking research for that fic my _god_. One day I'll stop calling it Vampires but it merely has a working title. I haven't decided if that will be it's actual title or not so I don't want to say it just to go and ultimately change it.
> 
> And in the end, Heartbeats still reigns supreme as my longest fic, though I feel like it'll pale in comparison to the ot5 fic. Which says....a lot.

Walking with Junhee settles something warm in his chest. He’d never admit it to Byeongkwan or Sehyoon or - well, anyone. Actually, maybe Sehyoon. Since he’s going through a love sick phase with Byeongkwan. But that might make Sehyoon misread the relationship between him and Junhee. Their friendship is completely platonic and neither expect the other to suddenly crush on them overnight.

Donghun kicks at brown leaf that he can barely make out in the darkness. He misses in an epic fashion, foot flying over the leaf and leaving him to take an awkward step. Junhee giggles alongside him and intertwines their arms after strategically moving his coffee to his loose arm. 

“You’re getting beat up by nature, Donghun.” Junhee comments idly. “I’m simply making sure that you don’t fall and bust your head open on the concrete.”

“How polite of you, Junhee.” 

Donghun swears that he can make out the glint of Junhee’s smile in the low light of a passing lamp post. Which is ridiculous because he’s not even really paying attention to the other’s smile. Even though it’s cute. And.

Ugh.

Change the subject, Donghun.

“You’ve really never been stargazing before?” He asks. Smooth. Back on topic. Embarrassment gone and filed away to keep him up later when they go to bed. “Like not even with..” He pauses. “..your friends? Sisters?”

“Nope.” Junhee says beside him as he shivers against the chilled breeze. Donghun can feel the goosebumps against his own skin. It’s a weird sensation. “It’s an..outdoor thing. No one I really knew liked to do outdoor things.”

“Do you like to do outdoor things?”

“Sometimes.” Junhee hums. “I like to lay in the sun on spring mornings and I like to take walks when flowers are blooming. I like riding bikes with Latte in the basket so she can take in the views.”

“Well, perhaps you could’ve stargazed with her.” He comments. 

Junhee snorts.

“Well that’s just weird, Donghun!” The other replies. “She’d never be able to appreciate the sky like we do!”

Ah right. She wouldn’t appreciate the sky. It’s not even because she’s inherently a cat. It’s because she’s simply not the type to stay in place for more than five minutes unless food, petting or sleep was involved. But Junhee’s comment insinuates that he probably has tried before. Junhee is a funny little man. 

“I suppose that’s a fair assessment, then.” Donghun agrees. “But now you have a friend that enjoys star gazing, so.”

“Mhm!” Junhee chirps out. 

They’re very close, physically. This is a new discovery he’s just realized. From feeling the goosebumps of the other ghosting against his skin to them being pressed close to each other’s side because of their arms being linked. They are very close to one another right now. 

It is not a sensation nor action that he’s really experienced since his last boyfriend. Sure Byeongkwan or Sehyoon (and on the rare occasion recently, Yuchan) would hug him from behind or wrap their arms around his shoulders but -

Once again, he’s gotta stop thinking about this.

Junhee seems fine with walking in relative silence other than the odd comment here or there about things they might see. Another student, flickering lights, leaves hopping across their path when the wind picks up. Donghun sips at his coffee, relishing in the warmth that it gives him. It’s a brief feeling but a welcome one all the same. 

Donghun finds himself sneaking a glance at the other every so often. Junhee is just something to be admired. Both in a friendly and romantic point of view. One gaze lingers just a tad too long and Junhee notices, eyes meeting Donghun’s for a moment.

“Something up?”

“The sky.” Donghun panic answers, pointedly forcing himself to look ahead.

“Amusing.” Junhee’s says in a dull tone but Donghun can’t sense any actual anger or menace behind the words. “You were looking at me.”

“I have eyes, I can look at things.” He explains hastily, shrugging uselessly. “I just. I dunno. Focus on things sometimes.”

“So you focused on my face?” Good question. He’s wondering why he focused on his face. That wasn’t part of the question but he’s mentally berating himself over it anyway. 

“Yep.” Is all he can really say.

Silence stretches just long enough to make him want to squirm.

“You’re a very strange person, Lee Donghun.” Junhee chuckles in the end. “But I will not bully you on what your eyes want to focus on.”

“Even if it includes your face?”

“It is probably not the most offensive thing you’ve laid your eyes on.” Junhee quips. Interesting on how he can imagine the smile on Junhee’s face right now. It’s likely that cocky one - like the one he got when he would wear a new piece of clothing. 

“Your face is hardly offensive.” Donghun rambles. “Some - I - would even call it pleasant.” He hopes he can sleep tonight. Embarrassment might take him down before he even reaches the bed. 

Junhee makes a scoffing noise, a soft complaint leaving his lips. Was it a complaint? Donghun can’t quite register it. 

Please, planet earth, open up a sinkhole and take him into it. Spare Junhee, though. Latte needs a good parent.

“Your face is pleasant too.” Junhee says and Donghun can barely catch it. Perhaps Junhee had hoped that he wouldn’t. So, like a reasonable adult, he’ll ignore this and scream into his pillow while Junhee is showering.

He counts all his blessings when the campus park comes into view. The coffee has gone from hot to warm but his face still feels like it’ll catch on fire from the blush that flares up when he thinks of all the past mistakes he’s made over the duration of this walk.

The park is lit up by some brighter lamp posts - mainly so people don’t run into trees when it’s especially dark out. It takes a special kind of mess up that you run into an oak tree but hey. Safety first. 

But naturally, man made light does not do the sky justice. So instead he guides Junhee to the darkest part of the park and sets him down on a cold bench.

“I assume you need somewhere naturally dark to see the stars properly.” Junhee hums as soon as he’s settled, unwinding his arm from Donghun’s. Donghun sort of mourns the loss of contact.

“Of course.” Donghun says with a nod. “What’s the point in trying to look at the sky if all the lamps just get in the way?”

“Fair point.” Junhee hums out, casting a glance up at the sky. “Can you point out constellations if you see any?”

“The ones I know, yes.” He agrees. “The ones you can see without a telescope, anyway.”

“You can see constellations without a telescope?”

“Some of them, yes.”

Junhee just makes a small noise of awe. Donghun risks a glance over at him, lips quirking into a fond grin. How cute. The other is looking up at the sky as if it’s the first time he’s ever considered it. Somehow, Donghun would have assumed that Junhee might’ve done this on his own. He seems to be a good mix of enjoying people’s company and enjoying his own alone time.

He feels kind of happy that Junhee wanted to look at the sky with him.

So he tips his head back and observes the sky. The constant chill gets blocked out in favor of him sipping at the coffee and pointing out constellations. The Big Dipper is an easy one once he focuses on it - it takes a bit of time for Junhee to figure it out as Donghun points it out. There’s a small gleeful exclamation when he picks it out.

Donghun also points out the Ursa Major because, well, the Big Dipper takes up a good portion of that. Pointing it out is a little hard for himself, so he worries over the outline of it for a few minutes before telling it to Junhee.

Junhee is so exceptionally in awe over this whole thing, as if Donghun is revealing a secret power or code or _something_. Which he isn’t. But to Junhee it must be something close to that. 

He starts to run out of constellations to point out and he tells Junhee exactly that. Junhee seems perfectly fine with that, content with retracing the old ones that Donghun had previously pointed out. It’s that kid like wonderment again, something that Donghun sees as unfairly endearing. 

“Relaxing, huh?” He asks, tapping his fingers along his cup.

“Yeah.” Junhee says, pursing his lips. “Better than being at the apartment.”

Ah. Yeah. He’d forgotten that he had kind of offered this all to get him out of the apartment for awhile. So this is probably even more relaxing for Junhee than it is for him. He also notes that the other has set his coffee aside on the bench. Has he finished drinking it or is he too in awe of the stars to remember that he has a warm beverage?

Either is likely with him.

“That conversation must’ve been rather miserable if it made you willingly want to come see the stars on a cold night.” He offers as a conversation piece, fixing his gaze back on the sky.

“I guess you could say that.” Junhee mumbles beside him. “Just some stupid family stuff.”

“Ah.” Donghun starts and pauses, thinking of a way to test the waters. “How stupid?”

“Pretty stupid.” The other says. “My mom called, I answered. Stupid for her to call, stupid for me to answer.” He huffs. “Arguably it’s my fault for never changing my number.”

“Well wait.” He starts to point out. “You shouldn’t have to change your number just to ensure she doesn’t call. Maybe you can just block her number?”

The younger pauses as if he had never considered that.

“Oh.” He says, puffing out a soft breath. “Hadn’t really thought of that.”

“It’s always an option.” Donghun advises with a small shrug.

“I guess it is.” Junhee remarks, chuckling a bit. “I thought that you’d criticize me for thinking that a phone call with my mom is stupid.”

“Eh, what’s to criticize?” He asks. “Conversations with parents can be extremely stupid.”

“And stressful.”

“And stressful.” Donghun repeats with a grin, lowering his gaze to look at the other. “So no, I’m not going to criticize you over something like that.”

Junhee regards him for a moment. Finally he sighs, lowering his head completely. 

“My family is very stressful.”

“Oh?”

“Just..you know.” Junhee says as if that elaborates everything. “Both my mom and dad managed to get lucky and get rich and now they’re both miserable because of it. Or well. Miserable enough to make me and my sisters miserable.”

So the ‘new money’ type. Makes sense.

“Miserable as in..?” Donghun trails off. “Controlling?”

“Very.” Junhee says. “Wanted me and my sisters to take up their businesses and such. We never really wanted to. Arguments over it always ended in yelling matches between my oldest sister and one of my parents.”

“The one that got kicked out.”

“Yeah.” He shrugs. “I tried to cut off contact with my parents when I finally moved out of the house but, well.” He gestures vaguely at the open air in front of him. “Here we are.”

Here they are indeed. Here they are in a park, airing grievances about Junhee’s family. 

“I see.” He says. “Not the funnest thing you’ve had to deal with, huh?”

“Parties were worse.” Junhee snorts. “They loved to cater these parties at a rented beach house. They’d drag me and my sisters along in the best things we owned and cart us around. ‘Here’s the new CEO for my company, he’ll be a good one’, ‘Oh she’s going to run the industry so well when she finally realizes she wants to work with us’. Stuff like that. Old timey stuff. It’s like they watched Great Gatsby and didn’t know that the shitty ending existed.”

Donghun can’t help but laugh at the ridiculous grim picture that paints.

“These were the same parties that they made you sing at?” He asks, leaning back against the bench.

“Yeah. Whenever they needed entertainment and didn’t want to pay for a cellist or something. They can rent out a four story beach villa but a decent cellist? How dare I suggest such a thing!” Junhee says in a mock snobbish tone. “They looked at me as if I were mad!”

“They probably thought that you were. Didn’t you say that they hated anything artistic?” 

“They hated it unless they could use it to gloat at a party.” Junhee shrugged. “So sometimes I’d sing. Or play guitar.”

“Did they at least compliment your efforts?” Donghun asks.

“Only if other people commented to them about how good I was. Then they’d take credit for it.”

“Lame.”

“Super lame.” The other agrees. “But it’s whatever, I’m at an art school now and they probably have to pay for entertainment. Who’s the real winner here?”

“You are.” Donghun says wholeheartedly. Though that does make him question something. “Not to pry but how are you paying for this all, exactly? It’s not like this place is cheap and your parents sound a bit..you know.”

“I have my own bank account. I opened it when I was fifteen and had my parents sign onto it. They were never big on giving actual gifts but they were always down to throw large sums of cash into accounts for birthdays and Christmas. Also when I graduated high school. That’s the cool thing about having rich parents like that - they’ll dump cash into it without much thought.” Junhee smirks. “Once I was old enough to have an account without my parents signed on it, I went and closed that account and moved everything over to a new one that they couldn’t get into.”

Smart.

“And then you just up and left?” Donghun asks, giving the other his full attention.

“Well, yeah. I had to before they tried to put more money in and realized they couldn’t.” He shrugs. “I had accepted a college offer prior to closing the account and made the move over to the dorm with a suitcase and a pet carrier. Ignored all calls and such. It’s a wonder that they didn’t try to search for me, but then again I guess they saw it coming.”

Donghun can vividly imagine Junhee busting into a dorm room with a suitcase and a cat carrier. It’s a rather interesting image.

“Then I got a job as a stagehand at the..uh...partially run down auditorium down the street from my old college. I worked backstage in the costume department. Surprisingly a lot of plays and musicals went on in that place, despite the often subpar standards. It was high school plays and musicals that went on in there, but it gave me some work to do to build up my funds some more.” Junhee says as he swings his legs. “This school has always been my goal after all.”

“Oh?” Donghun hums out. “And you always planned to double major?”

“Yeah. Mainly because I kind of accidentally put down two majors in my freshman year.” Junhee says with a slight nod. “But then I fell in love with the workload, as weird as that sounds.” He chuckles. “My roommate was always miserable between Latte and me staying up all night rehearsing things or writing my application to come here. I feel bad for him.”

He’s severely underestimated Junhee from day one, he decides.

From thinking that he simply coasted through life onto the doorstep to this college. From sitting up at night and wondering if he flashed his wealth to his roommate. Just, everything. But no, Junhee just was a dedicated little shit. Donghun can appreciate that. Junhee could easily have just gone and thrown all his money around to get places. But no, he took the harder route - probably applied to ridiculous scholarships and grants just to get some money for the inevitable move to this place. 

It’s admirable. Awe inspiring. Inspirational. 

Donghun could probably tell this story to some of the snobby freshmen in his TA class and scare the shit out of them. Oh, what’s that, you got in because your parents put you through every prestigious school thought imaginable and you don’t even want to be here? Well his roommate literally recreated a bank account and dipped from the silver spoon lifestyle just to get here -

“You’re amazing, Junhee.” Donghun cuts his own thoughts off, voice struck with awe. “Truly.”

Junhee snorts. 

“You think too highly of me.” Junhee waves him off. “I simply did what I wanted to do.”

“Still!” Donghun squawks. “You just. You left your family to do things your own way! Meanwhile I was terrified of disappointing mine!”

“Well, we’re both still here aren’t we?” The other muses, casting a look up to the sky. “Were your parents disappointed when you got accepted here?”

“No.” If they were, they never expressed it. But that’s not something he’ll say out loud. “They..fostered my interests. Helped me research schools and such.”

“Ah.” The other licks his lips. “Your family sounds very supportive.”

“They are.” Donghun says, smiling proudly. “And I think they’d be very supportive of you, if they knew you.” He laughs. “Especially my mom. She’s a sucker for those who grab their own life by the reigns. It’s why she loves my dad.”

“No wonder why she loves you, then.” Junhee remarks. “You’re very..stubborn in your way of life. I can tell that you won’t give anything up easily.”

“Not really. Unless I realize that my way is stupid.” Donghun comments lightly. “Kind of like how I realized that hating you would be stupid.”

“Hating me is very stupid.” Junhee jokes. “I like to think that I’m a very good person.”

He’s a wonderful person. That’s what he wants to tell Junhee.

Instead he lets out a small, childish giggle.

“You’re like, lukewarm, could use some work.” He jokes.

The elbow he gets in his side is arguably well deserved. 

It’s nearing midnight as they start their walk back to the apartment - thoroughly chilled and coffee run dry. But Junhee is back to looking content, so really Donghun can ignore the chill.

The warm feeling in his chest is back, stronger than it was before. Maybe it’s because Junhee is happier now. 

He’s proud of their progress as friends. Junhee actually opened up to him - that’s insane! That’s such an improvement! Junhee is willing to talk about shit with him!

It has him feeling giddy. Donghun loves the feeling of being considered trustworthy. Surely that’s what Junhee thinks of him, right? He wouldn’t have talked so openly if he hadn’t. Donghun slides a glance at the other, smiling dumbly. Junhee glances back and returns the smile.

They make it back to the apartment relatively quickly, resorting to a giggling bout of speed walking. The tips of his fingers are cold and his face is flushed by wind, but at least his hair isn’t a mess like Junhee’s is.

He notes that Junhee’s hair looks good when it’s messed up. Donghun feels like he’s made that note before. Well now he has two mental notes about it. He walks into the lobby and shakes his hands, enjoying the soft warmth and the low hum of the heater cycling. Junhee does the same before moving to fix his wayward hair.

“Feels nice to get all warm again, huh?” Donghun asks happily, walking off towards the elevator.

“Yep!” Junhee says, smile evident. “Though I enjoyed the night out, too.” He nods.

“I’m glad.” Donghun says, pressing the call button for the elevator and tapping his toes. “Do you wanna shower first or?”

“Nah. You can. You were the one that had to work today anyway.” Junhee shrugs, perking up when the elevator dings and opens up.

Junhee enters leans up against the elevator wall, head hitting it with a soft thunk. Donghun just playfully rolls his eyes at him, hitting their floor number and stepping back.

Their soft breath fills the elevator as it jerks into life. He always worries that they’ll get stuck one day. Maybe he’s jinxed it and now they will. Junhee wouldn’t be the worst person to be stuck with. At least they’d get to joke around together.

Surprisingly a few of their neighbors are out and about when they get on their floor. A few are stumbling around, obviously drunk, and there’s a few good friends here and there guiding them back to the appropriate rooms.

Luckily the RA has already been up on this floor.

Junhee watches the few people as they walk down to their door. Maybe he’s not exactly used to it, judging by the look of amusement and confusion in his eyes.

“Parties here are intense things, Junhee.” Donghun whispers sagely. “It’s best not to go to them without a designated adult.”

“Oh.” Junhee whispers, nodding. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Donghun grins as he fishes the keys out of his pocket, finally halting in front of the door. He opens it up wide and lets Junhee walk in first before slipping in behind him. Junhee is quick to tug his shoes off, scampering off into the living room. Ah right, Latte. They did kind of leave suddenly. 

Donghun takes off his shoes for the last time in the night, wiggling his toes and sighing happily at the freedom. Does is make him sound old if he says that he enjoys the feeling of taking his shoes off? Perhaps.

“I’m going to go shower.” He calls out lightly as he steps into the living room. Junhee is busy picking up Latte’s food and water bowls, a very feisty kitty in between his legs as he straightened himself up. “Don’t let her talk you to death.”

“Oh she has a list of complaints that I have to listen to.” Junhee jokes. “Enjoy your shower.”

“I will.” He says cheerily. “I feel like I smell like dining hall food and cologne.”

“It’s not the worst smell in the world, you’ll live.” Junhee barks out a laugh at that, striding past the other and into the kitchen.

Donghun just quirks a smile at that, rolling his eyes and walking off to their bedroom to gather clothes.

Once in the bathroom he plops his pajamas onto the sink counter, closing and locking the bathroom door behind him. Even if they’re close now, he’s going to keep that rule in place - it’s just common decency.

He strips down and bunches his clothes into the hamper, scrunching his nose at how full it’s getting. Laundry day is coming soon. And it’ll be his turn. Yuck. He’ll worry about that later sometime after he regrets everything he has said today.

The shower proves to be a well needed one. Relaxing. A good way to end a very packed day. He recalls vaguely that he’d gotten a message from Sehyoon a few hours ago. Maybe he’ll check it before getting off his phone for the night. Unless it’s something stupid, then he won’t.

His shower ends abruptly when he remembers that Junhee also needs to get in and wash himself off as well. The last few minutes of his shower are spent quickly washing the shampoo out of his hair and nearly dying when some of it got in his eyes. He also puts the water onto the coldest setting out of fear that he’ll use all the warm water up in the last two and a half minutes.

Still he comes out fresh and with a partial second wind due to the sudden realization that he doesn’t live alone. 

He dries off in record time but his clothes still cling to him a bit with his damp skin. It’s just something he has to live with. Finally he brushes his teeth and combs through his hair, heaving a sigh as he finally unlocks the door and steps out.

Crossing the hallway into their room, he nudges the door open with his foot. Junhee is sitting on his bed, phone screen illuminating his face in the otherwise dark room. In this light, he actually looks kind of scary.

“You could’ve turned the light on, you know.” Donghun says, snorting when Junhee jerks up, phone falling onto the bed. “Didn’t mean to startle you.” He chuckles.

Junhee just huffs. Donghun can make out the value outline of the other reaching out to flick on his bedside lap.

“You didn’t scare me that much.” He grunts, crossing his arms. “But I didn’t turn on the lights because if I turned the over head ones on I’d wake up too much to go sleep.”

“So does that mean you’ll shower with the lights off then?”

“I may try.” Junhee counters, sprawling out. “I barely have the motivation to shower to begin with.”

“Do it that way I won’t have to listen to you complain about feeling icky when you wake up.” Donghun says in a deadpan tone, making himself comfortable on his own bed. “I even saved some hot water for you.”

“I don’t complain about feeling icky!” Junhee argues. Then pauses and thinks. “I’ve only complained once! And that’s because I fell asleep on the couch!”

“Mhm. Still counts.” Donghun laughs. “But seriously, go shower or I’ll pour water on your head as a wake up call in the morning.”

“So brutal.” Junhee whines, rolling off the bed all the same. “I’ll do it to save my pretty face from getting soaked in the early morning.” He scoffs playfully, approaching the dresser to find his pajamas for the night.

Junhee leaves without saying anything else and Donghun is left to ponder his thoughts.

That mostly means that he checks his phone before all the embarrassment of tonight surges forward. He fumbles with it as he grabs it, nearly dropping it as he moves to unlock it. There’s two messages from Sehyoon - over two hours ago from back when they were still at the dining hall. 

**(10:19 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_enjoy your night out with junhee._

**(10:21 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_hopefully you don't feel emotionally constipated like i do._

Why does it not surprise him that Sehyoon is somehow, at this exact point in time, going into an emotional crisis?

**(12:38 AM) Donghun:**  
_You good or?_

**(12:40 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_byeongkwan feelings. again._

**(12:40 AM) Donghun:**  
_When are you not having Byeongkwan feelings? What caused them now?_

**(12:41 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_he just EXISTS. and looks really cute after he showers. is that a weird thing to say?_

Donghun thinks that maybe, just maybe, he should talk to Sehyoon alone one day and hype him up into confessing to Byeongkwan. It’ll be easier on everyone’s sanity. Mainly his.

**(12:43 AM) Donghun:**  
_That’s...a perfectly normal YOU thing that you’d say._

**(12:43 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_oh :(._

**(12:44 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_i think i want to confess to him soon. maybe? i don’t know._

If angels existed and could sing, Donghun would listen to them on full volume. He can practically hear the trumpets.

**(12:47 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_but i dont want to do it before finals....so maybe after?_

**(12:48 AM) Donghun:**  
_I suppose that’s a good idea. He tends to get tunnel vision during finals anyways. He’d probably ignore your confession._

**(12:48 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_probably...so i’ll definitely consider it after finals, then. :)_

**(12:49 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_anyways. you and junhee. how’d that go?_

The angels stop metaphorically singing. The only constant noise is the sound of water from the shower. He gazes at the open doorway for a moment as if Junhee would phase into the room again just because he read the text. When no brown haired man mysteriously appears in the doorway, he turns his attention back to the text.

**(12:52 AM) Donghun:**  
_It was nice. We got to talk a lot. And he told me some stuff and it was just? Nice I guess? That he trusts me._

**(12:52 AM) Donghun:**  
_Said some embarrassing shit though but that doesn’t matter I’ll beat myself up over it later._

**(12:52 AM) Sehyoon:**  
_what did you say this time? i’ve heard you try to pick up guys before, i can’t imagine you being more awkward than that._

First of all: rude.

Second of all: he’s definitely more awkward than that.

They end up talking about his awkward tendencies after that. It isn’t until Sehyoon says that he’s going to bed that he finally truly settles down against his pillows. He looks over at the other side of the room, notices how weird it looks when Junhee isn’t there.

He, in general, is starting to realize that he wouldn’t be happy if he had to dorm on his own again. Living with another person felt nice. Not like he necessarily has to worry about that since this is his last year, but it does leave him worried about his whole life after it. He'll have to find an apartment - or maybe go live with his parents again. While he loves his mom and dad he doesn't necessarily want to go live in the house again unless he had to.

But he's grown used to having someone in the same space as him.

Granted, he’d probably be saying something different if Junhee turned out to be a brat. Or if he’d gotten stuck with a snob. But no, he’d gotten stuck with a lovable dork.

It’s now that he notices that the water has shut off. He gazes at the lamp lighting the room, casting shadows on the wall. He can feel sleep tugging at his mind - but he wants to wait to say goodnight to Junhee. It’d be only right after all that they talked about tonight. So he waits with half lidded eyes, forcing consciousness until he hears the floorboards creak.

“Did you manage to shower with the lights off?” He asks groggily, shifting his gaze over to Junhee. “Or did you succumb to possibly waking yourself up again?”

Junhee stands there for a few moments, blinking in the darkness for a minute or so before responding.

“I turned the lights on but showered with my eyes mostly closed. Of course, that resulted in my nearly using your shampoo but, hey, I caught myself.” Junhee says with a tired laugh as he went to crawl onto his bed. “Now we can sleep. I have to wake up early to clean out Latte’s litter box but -”

“I can do it.” Donghun yawns, tracking the other as he settles into bed. “I’m getting up to do laundry anyways. I can make a trip to the dumpster with the other trash after I get our laundry started.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” Donghun shrugs. “As long as you make breakfast in return.”

“Deal.” Junhee grins. “But I just wanna thank you, by the way. For taking me stargazing.”

“It’s no problem.” Donghun says, rolling onto his back. “You’ve thanked me like four times now, anyways.”

“Still.” He can hear Junhee say, listening to the rustling of the sheets as the other settles under his own covers. “I just thought I’d thank you again before we go to sleep.”

Well. Alright.

“You’re welcome, Junhee.” Donghun says after a moment. “Get some sleep.”

“You too.”

He doesn’t hear the nature sounds tonight. That’s a new occurrence. 

Donghun takes him stargazing one more time after that. Mainly just so they can relax a bit before it all goes to shit. Especially for Junhee. He isn’t quite sure what finals look like for a double major, but he can say for certain that it’s probably a bit more hellish than what he’s going to go through.

And just like that, finals start to hit them. 

The week before finals will always be his saving grace. It’s really their calm before the storm - they receive any study packets (those who are polite enough to assign them) while they receive assignments from those who aren’t keen on tests. Their shared teacher is one of them.

So when she offered a partner project, Donghun was already considering going up to Junhee to ask if he wanted to work together. Lucky for him, Junhee was thinking the same thing. He actually beat Donghun to the punch.

Now here they were, cooped up on the couch after their classes for the day.

“What song do you want to do?” Donghun asks, scrolling through his Spotify playlists. “All she asks is that we both sing in acapella so..”

“I want to do a powerful song.” Junhee says, swinging his legs onto Donghun’s lap. “One that can show off our high notes.”

“Ah.” Donghun hums, pursing his lips. “I can’t think of any off the top of my head.”

“Well we have a week to find it, you know? It doesn’t have to be decided just yet.” Junhee shrugs.

“Says the double major.” He says with a snort. “How many classes are you going to procrastinate your studies for?”

“Too many, probably.” Junhee grins cheekily. “But I won’t procrastinate on this assignment since it’s a group one.”

“Which one are you going to procrastinate on?”

“Literally all my acting related ones.” Junhee says. “The ones I’ve gotten yesterday and today are annoying already. So I’m going to avoid them until the last moment and I’ll apologize in advance for my imminent breakdown.”

“I accept your preemptive apology.” He snorts. “I can help if you need it, you know?”

“I don’t wanna bug you.” The other waves him off. “Besides your assignments probably are just as awful, huh?”

“Not really. I just have a lot of testing basically. Some PowerPoints. Some vocal presentations. Nothing insane or anything wild.” Donghun chuckles. “But seriously, the sooner we decide on a song the sooner we can pick out parts for it. Acapella isn’t the easiest thing to do.”

“It doesn’t sound to easy, especially for duets.” Junhee says. “Timing is everything.”

“It is.” He agrees. “Does your playlist have anything?”

“I can look.”

“Go get your phone then.” Donghun says, smiling fondly when Junhee gets up and scampers off to their room to get his phone. It gives him time to scroll through his list and maybe find something that Junhee would be interested in doing. He’s kind of wary on sharing his music - always afraid that the person he shows a song to will hate it. 

It’s just a thing he’s always been scared of. He knows that the worst Junhee can do is say no, but he’s scared that he’ll recommend a song that he really loves just for it to get turned down.

There are a few that he could maybe suggest. They don’t hold as much meaning to him as others so he won’t be as (ridiculously) wounded if they get turned down.

Junhee pads back in without really looking at Donghun, instead simply resettling himself into his previous position. Donghun can’t quite recall when they got this comfortable with each other, Junhee’s legs splayed out in his lap while he reflexively puts an arm on the other’s knee. It was a comfortable position for them, he supposed. There were still boundaries somewhere in it all. Probably. He'd have to really look for them though.

“I don’t really have any viable duet songs.” Junhee whines. “Much less ones that would sound decent in acapella.”

“Most songs can sound decent in acapella if you do it right.” Donghun quips. “Don’t be so closed minded.”

“You are a fool.”

“I am a fool in many things, Park Junhee. But I am not a fool when it comes to singing.” Donghun huffs. “Seriously. Sometimes all it takes is rearranging some pieces to make a song sound good in acapella.”

Junhee lets out a playful scoff at that. 

“Consider this, Donghun.” Junhee says. “I’m lazy.”

“I know you are.” Donghun replies. “But that doesn’t make me any less correct now does it?”

The grumble he gets is a sign that he’s won. He just smiles, kicking his legs up onto the coffee table. His mom would yell at him if she saw him do that.

Speaking of which, he should call his mom.

It also reminds him of something specific.

“Did you block your mom’s number, by the way?” He asks, sparing a glance in the other’s direction.

“Ah. Yeah.” Junhee hums. “Kind of decided to after I saw that she had left four voicemails while we were out that night.”

"Gross.” Donghun says, sticking his tongue out. “Why did she want to talk to you in the first place?”

“Just wanted to try to make me understand how nice it could be to inherit a company from her or dad, I guess.” Junhee says, eyes fixated on his phone. “I don’t think my parents are necessarily bad people. We just don’t vibe on the same wavelength, you know?”

“That phrase just makes you sound like a surfer, you know that right?” Donghun chuckles lightly, clearing his throat afterwards. “But yeah, I can get that. They’d probably be a perfect fit for people who wanted to live that kind of lifestyle.”

“Yep.” Junhee nods. “Anyways, songs?”

“Ah, yeah.” Donghun says, looking back to his phone. “I don’t know if we will be able to achieve your high note dream.”

“Eh, it’s not a requirement.” The other says, leaning into the back of the couch. “It’d just give me a good reason to belt out my high notes, that’s all.”

“I assume you like doing that.”

“I’ve been forcing myself to not sing in the shower while you’re home. But the reverb in there is beautiful, just saying.”

Donghun laughs at that. He’s not surprised. This information is just so perfectly Junhee that it’s fucking ridiculous.

“If I ever catch you singing in the shower, I’m recording it.” He says. He means it too.

"You’ll never hear me, I can bet on that.” Junhee says, perhaps a bit nervously. “And even if you do I’ll wrestle to evidence from your hands.”

“I’ll send it to Byeongkwan before you kill me.”

“You fiend.”

“I know.” Donghun chuckles. “Anyways.”

They finally stop goofing off at some point. It takes a while. They play a few dumb songs as joking ‘what ifs’. Like songs from Spongebob.

That’s also how he learns that Junhee has never watched Spongebob. Which, really, is a crime within itself. How does someone not see even one episode or a part of an episode of Spongebob? Ridiculous.

When they do get back on the serious side of things, they both reject songs from each other. Some because Junhee doesn’t know if he could learn them in time, some because Donghun thinks it goes to fast for them to work it into an acapella without it sounding weird. He doesn’t find himself feeling hurt over the rejections though, which is new. Maybe it’s because Junhee actually takes the time to explain why he doesn’t want to do a song. He seemingly enjoys listening to the few he’s rejected, but the logic why he doesn’t want to do them makes sense.

So Donghun really can’t feel that hurt about it.

Latte joins them at some point, hopping onto Junhee’s legs. So, by default, hopping onto Donghun’s lap. He must admit that his legs feel a little number at this point and they’re not even really looking at music anymore. Well. They’re taking turns playing possible songs, listening to the choruses and seeing if they can make duets out of it.

But Junhee also keeps showing him vague shit posts from Twitter. 

“Do you follow vague meme accounts or something?” Donghun asks after another song ends. “And add that song to the possibility list.” He comments afterwards, moving to play the song he had pulled up.

“Got it.” Junhee says as he wiggles his toes, tapping the name into his phone. “And yes, I do.”

“I should follow you on twitter.”

“Do you enjoy my memes?” 

“Enough to not push you off this couch, yes.” Donghun snorts.

“That’s the number two way to my heart.” Junhee says absentmindedly. “Enjoying my memes.”

“What’s the first?”

“I’ll take that to my grave.” He says in a mockingly serious tone, flicking a glance up at Donghun. “Can’t just give all the secrets to life away, you know? That’s too easy."

Donghun rolls his eyes playfully. “Of course not, that’s just silly.” He agrees, patting Junhee’s leg. “My lap is getting numb, please free me from your leg prison.”

“Can’t.” Junhee hums. “Latte’s on me and she dictates whether we get to move or not.”

“Is this what being a pet owner is like?”

“Welcome to cat owner life, Donghun.” Junhee says. “Enjoy it.”

“But I want to feel my legs again.” Donghun whines playfully, glaring at the back of Latte’s head. “She is keeping me from that.”

“Welcome to the club.” Junhee grumbles.

Okay that’s fair. 

“So we’ll just rot here until Latte moves on her own?” He asks, partially out of disbelief. He may be new to pet ownership but he refuses to believe that they’re really not going to move because of a cat.

“Basically.”

“You’ve spoiled her.”

“Says the guy that bought her a teddy bear.” Junhee shoots back.

“She loves it.”

“She likes to put it in the bathroom sink and it scares me every single time.” The other says. “I hope she puts it in your bed one night when you least expect it.”

“If she does you’ll know.” Donghun replies in a deadpan voice, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling.

So this is what it’s like to own a cat.

It is a very strange thing, to dictate whether you can get up or not based off what your pet is doing. Yet here he is, not wanting to move because Latte looks very comfortable where she’s settled. Maybe if she weren’t a fluffball, he’d be able to move her with less guilt. Instead he just reaches out and pets the top of her head. Maybe if he makes enough mental pleas, she’ll pick up on it.

Cats have to be kind of supernatural, in a way. They’re a bit freaky if he thinks about them too much.

Donghun tolerates it for a whole ten minutes before sighing dramatically.

“How bad will it look if I wake her up?”

“Give her some treats and she’ll forgive you just fine.” Junhee shrugs, seemingly content with accepting his fate on the couch. “You’d still have to get me off of you even if you moved her, though.”

“I will not feel guilty if I push your scrawny ass off the couch.” He states simply. “And I can console your whining with dinner. But I can only make dinner if Latte gets up. So would you rather starve or would you rather me wake her up and push you off of me?”

Junhee just sighs as if that gives an answer. It really doesn’t. But it also doesn’t stop Donghun from doing what he wants, so, they both win in this situation. He gently blows on the back of Latte’s head, frowning when she simply twitches her ears. Donghun rolls his eyes at that, reaching forward to instead scoop her up. She certainly didn’t like that, meowing loudly. 

To save himself a few possible scratch marks, he plopped Latte onto Junhee’s stomach before shoving the younger’s legs off of him. Latte still wasn’t quite pleased - but did look a bit more keen on settling down on a non-moving person.

“Nope.” Junhee says quickly, rolling onto his side to prevent her from laying down. “I love you but nope.”

“You have fun dealing with that. I’m going to walk away from this guilt free!” Donghun sing songs cheekily. Actually walking away was the hard part. He had to stretch his legs out a few times to make sure that they were actually awake before getting up and freeing himself from the confines of the couch. 

Junhee makes a noise that Donghun can only assume is a complaint. But still he flees happily, scampering off into the kitchen to get some water. Who knew that sitting on the couch could be so dehydrating? That’s a bit unfair in his opinion. They weren’t even actively doing anything. Yet here he is, chugging water like he’s been out in a desert for fifteen damn days.

There’s a successful bark of laughter from the living room and he sees Latte’s sulking frame enter the doorway from the corner of his eye. He finishes off his glass of water, taking in the fleeting frame of Junhee walking down the hallway.

“Did he kick you off?” Donghun asks with a pouty face.

Latte just plops herself down on the floor and seemingly ignores him. He doesn’t think a cat can truly ignore people, but Latte can do a damn good job of imitating it.

“It was probably for the best, Latte.” He advises sagely. “Plus now I can give you treats.”

Latte seems more content with grooming herself. At least until Donghun opens the cupboard to take the treats out, that is. Now she seems keen on making herself look as lovable as possible by rubbing up against his leg and purring.

He smiles, opening the bag of treats and plucking one out of the confines. He rattles the bag a bit in attempt to get her to focus on him a bit better. He tosses it down to her, watching as she sniffs at it before accepting it. 

He wonders if he’d be offended if she ever rejected a treat he gave her. Probably.

She looks back up at him almost expectantly.

“One more and then that’s it. I don’t want you ruining your appetite before dinner.” He says, much like his dad would after he ate a few pieces of candy while he was cooking. Perhaps he truly did inherit his scolding tendencies.

Still he takes one last treat out, closing the bag and putting it away before settling down on his haunches to hold the treat out to her. Latte takes it from him gracefully, holding it and walking away before plopping it down and batting at it.

“Don’t play with your food!” He scoffs. “That’s not a toy!”

He can hear some giggling from the hallway entrance into the kitchen. When he looks over, Junhee has his phone pointed at him. 

“And you said it’d take a while to fall in love with her.” Junhee grins teasingly. “I kind of figured that you adored her with the teddy bear but this is a whole different level. Scolding her like a child.”

“Shut your mouth before I come over there.”

“And what are you going to do about it?” Junhee asks in a genuinely curious sounding voice.

That causes Donghun’s mind to blank. Mainly because there’s one answer that can be very obvious to some. Yet he doesn’t want to make that kind of joke - not really. 

Cause. Yeah. It's Junhee. 

“By shoving my fist in your mouth.” He says instead. “To keep you from talking.”

“I have some comments about that but I’ll abstain.” Junhee comments idly, smiling all the same.

Donghun just stares at him for a moment and then back at Latte. Then back at Junhee. He makes a few weird and ultimately meaningless hand gestures, a garbled noise leaving his throat.

“You good there?”

“Just trying to exist as a simple man.”

“You act like you’re an elderly person.” Junhee snorts, lowering his phone after a moment. “Though I guess that makes sense. Elderly people do love cats.”

“I’ll throttle you.”

“Mhm.” Junhee says, finally entering the kitchen and bumping him back against the counter despite there being plenty of room in the rest of the kitchen. “Don’t want you breaking any fingers now.” He coos out teasingly.

“Well -” He pauses. “Latte is your cat, so technically you’re elderly too!”

“Never said that I wasn’t, now did I?” He asks playfully, beaming at the other before moving to take his cup and fill it up with water.

That was another new thing they did. Drinking after each other. It wasn’t a common thing but if they were lazy they’d do it. He supposes that today is a lazy day.

But fuck, Junhee’s getting too good at firing back. Annoyingly good. He’s also getting more talkative which is something that makes Donghun want to suffocate him. Sometimes. Junhee’s just lucky that Donghun likes his voice.

“Are we giving up on finding a song for our final?” Junhee asks, leaning against the counter to take a drink.

“Not giving up completely. But we are taking a break.” Donghun says. “What do you want for dinner?”

“Something with a salad.” The other responds. Donghun quirks an eyebrow at him in question. “I want to feel healthy just once before I start stress eating next week.”

“Are you suggesting that we go on a healthy food detox?”

“I will personally eat a piece a fruit every day just so I can fool myself into thinking I’m healthy.” Junhee shrugs. “My finals diet is always bad.”

“How so?”

“I ate a whole box of Captain Crunch in a little over a day and a half.” Junhee says breezily, as if it’s the most common thing in the world. “And then sobbed into a bowl of microwaved broccoli because of it.”

“I don’t know if the Captain Crunch or the broccoli is supposed to be the depressing part, so I’m going to say that both parts are horrendous.” Donghun says, acutely aware of his grimace. “I’ll make sure you eat healthy during finals.”

“But then I gotta think of something to do for you to help you through finals week because I feel bad if it’s just me getting something.” Junhee complains, frowning.

Donghun thinks for a moment.

“If I think of something you can do, I’ll let you know.” He says with a smile. “But I’m seriously going to make you food because I really don’t want to see you demolish our supply of cereal.”

Junhee just nods before downing the rest of the water.

“What are we going to have for dinner?” He asks, staring at Donghun expectantly.

“Something with salad, I guess.” Donghun teases. “But I’m seriously considering making some sort of noodles.”

“Spaghetti?”

"We don’t have tomato sauce.” He points out, raising an eyebrow. They also don’t have alfredo sauce, either. 

“Shrimp scampi.”

“We..do have some frozen shrimp.” He says with a vague shrug. “Is that what you want?”

“I mean, it goes with salad.” Junhee smirks. “Plus it’s like - fancy, you know?”

He supposes that’s true. As fancy as they can be as of right now. So shrimp scampi it is.

But only if Junhee takes care of the shrimp. Donghun isn’t a fan of touching the little things. They look weird and if he thinks about it long enough, shrimp becomes a very weird concept in his mind.

When he relays that information to Junhee, the other just laughs and agrees to take care of it.

So they end up cooking a proper meal together. Which is nicer than the random meals they’ve haphazardly thrown together. Breakfast for dinner a few nights ago was nice, mainly because he got to see Junhee try to make pancake art.

But this feels much more sophisticated. Adult like.

He’s reminded of times with his ex, but the good times. The times where he can recall laughing while waiting for water to boil. Which happens this time too, when Junhee has to shoo Latte away from the shrimp several times.

The memories linger later that night when they sit down to eat at the table for the first time in a while instead of sitting on the couch. Latte is off sulking at her own food bowl, perhaps feeling left out of the shrimp party she thinks they’re having.

It’s funny. He used to look back on those memories and feel sad. But now he doesn’t feel that bad when they pop up. He can draw the interesting parallels between back then and now. Ultimately, he’s discovering that he enjoys cooking with Junhee more.

He’ll file that tidbit of information away for now so he can properly ponder it later. 

But right now he’s really invested in learning about how Junhee managed to fuck up making cereal once.

“It was all going fine until I tried to pour the milk.” Junhee says as Donghun pulls himself out of his thoughts. He pauses for a moment to chew thoughtfully on a tomato from his salad. “But then it all spilled and I was so confused. Then I realized that in my half asleep state that I had put my cereal into a strainer instead of an actual bowl.”

Donghun just snorts out a laugh, ducking his head to hide his face as he forces himself to swallow the mouthful of scampi.

“I really want to believe that you weren’t that tired.” Donghun says after he regains his composure. “Surely you can’t be _that_ disastrous when you’re half asleep.”

“Remember that coffee incident from a few months ago?” Junhee says. “I fail to see how you can’t believe it.”

Donghun recalls that. Then he laughs.

“You are a menace, Junhee.” He snorts. “An absolute menace.”

“But you like me, so that’s all that matters.”

Junhee isn’t wrong.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy anniversary A.C.E! I can’t do much for the guys, but I _can_ at least update this on their anniversary. I can’t even begin to elaborate how much these guys mean to me and I’m always so, so thankful that I decided to check out Cactus. 
> 
> Moving on... 
> 
> Updates:  
> \- I messed my wrist up to the point where I actually had to go in and get it checked out. It’s all good, thankfully (nothing broke!), but now I know to be more careful when playing tennis. I’m really surprised that I managed to still update on time tbh.  
> \- I’ve recently invested in a snow cone syrup and it is the greatest investment of my life. Daily snowcones? I can dig it.  
> \- While writing I came up with some scenes I really enjoyed but couldn't fit in for various reasons so I actually started toying with a new fic concept. Idk how far I'm going to go with it but I'm enjoying writing it so it may end up becoming an active piece that I'll write for.
> 
> Anyways,  
> Enjoy!

They find a song by a stroke of luck, really. Junhee had been cleaning up the living room while playing music on his phone and Donghun had been listening while chopping tomatoes. Then the song switched and, well, it all clicked. Donghun had not brought it up until later, when they were sitting down for lunch. Apparently Junhee had it on his playlist the whole time but they never got to it.

Dumbass.

Either way, that’s how they found their song - with four days left to spare. 

But now it's Monday and, well, tomorrow is their final.

This is the start of finals week hell. Donghun has tolerated his two pretty well. One was a presentation on the different octaves and the other was a demonstration to show how someone could identify the differences between the different operatic voices. All in all it was fairly easy and he made sure to present early. Of course he stuck around to hear other people’s finals but - overall - his teachers let those who finished go early.

So he has currently tucked himself onto a bench with Sehyoon, both of them swinging their legs idly.

“My teacher didn’t care for my dance piece, much.” Sehyoon muses, shrugging a shoulder. “Then again she’s never been a fan of what she considers ‘chaotic’ music.”

“I thought it had to be a classical piece?”

“It was!” The other snorts proudly. “But it was a remix of three of Tchaikovsky’s pieces. Kind of spent three separate nights in front of a music panel to perfectly arrange them together.”

“Did you tell her before you started choreographing to it?”

“Of course! She said it was fine because she love Tchaikovsky and she loved my creative intellect. But I guess I chose all the best chaotic parts to make her displeased.” Sehyoon huffs, as if offended. “Still she arguably gave me one of the better scores - you know how she calls them out.”

“Ah. Yeah.” Sehyoon has had this teacher for most of his dance minor life. He’s not as focused on it as he is composing - which is arguably why he rearranged three songs to begin with. Because he’s a damn mad man. “Which pieces?”

“Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, bits of the 1812 Overture and pieces of the Concerto Violin in D major. Very weird mix but, uh, it all worked well.” He hums. “I also sent the piece in to my composition final, but I had to write a five page paper explaining my inspiration for it and stuff.”

“I figured you’d have to make your own piece for your composition final.”

“Oh for my class tomorrow I do, but it only has to be a minute long. Plus I’m already sailing by that with a smooth ninety eight percent so really I could just slam my hands onto the music board and turn in whatever comes out. So I’ll just make something tonight for it.”

Lucky bastard.

Donghun just stares on ahead at the row of classrooms, eyes fixating on one of the doors on the upper level. He knows that Junhee is in there - not quite sure what he’s doing, though. He just knows that is the class originally started at noon and now it’s rolling over to a bit past three and frankly, Donghun is starting to worry that Junhee got eaten by his final.

“Do you think he’s like, alive?”

“No clue.” Donghun shrugs. “I know he was bitching about how the teacher was telling them that they’d all have to stay until everyone is finished. For all we know he’s been done for an hour but is still rotting up there.”

“The poor person who’s last to finish is going to be hated by their class.”

“Well, you never know, they might not be moving up to the next semester class with the other’s.” Donghun says. “Especially if they’re taking this long.”

“Mm.”

Donghun watches the door for a few more minutes, pursing his lips together.

“Maybe we should’ve gone and bought him some like - substantial food.” He says, staring at the plastic bag between their feet. “I mean he’ll appreciate the water but..”

“Are you telling me that you think a college kid who has been stuck in a poorly circulated room for three hours will _not_ appreciate a cereal bar and a bag of apple chips?”

“I’m just saying that they could have been, like, a sandwich.”

“Do you think Junhee will have the patience to sit down and eat a sandwich? Let alone fight with the annoying plastic containers the convenience store puts them in? Absolutely not.”

He supposes that it’s true. Plus they’re not obscenely unhealthy. Well. The cereal bar can be debated. Technically it’s just a rice krispy treat being marketed as a breakfast food. 

“What’s Byeongkwan up to today?”

“He’s blessed enough to have Monday’s be his teaching assistant days. So for his first class he’s helping teach their final before they have to do it themselves. The second one that he’s in right now he just has to sit and grade them with his teacher. Of course he can’t leave until everyone is done but he feels blessed all the same.” Sehyoon explains. 

“Lucky little shit.”

“I know, right?”

The two laugh at that, Donghun finally tearing his gaze away to look at the side profile of the other.

“So, have you thought about how you’re going to confess?” He asks.

“God, why does this make me feel like I’m in high school all over again?” Sehyoon snorts, twiddling his fingers. “I - I want to do it with as little fanfare as possible. Because then I can’t raise my expectations too high - and I don’t want him to feel forced to answer a certain way. I was..I was thinking maybe cooking a meal for us or something, but I don’t like our combined kitchen, the stove is all wonky.”

“Hm.”

“Hm?”

“You can always come cook something over at our apartment, you know?” Donghun offers. “Then you can make a picnic out of it. I feel like it’d be weird if you confessed in our apartment but you can always go out to the gazebo in the art walk area. It’s pretty and well lit and you can eat at the tables there.”

“I suppose.” The other muses. “But it would be one hell of a walk of shame if it goes bad.”

“I don’t think it will?”

“Oh?”

“Just trust me.” Donghun snorts, elbowing him. “He practically gets puppy eyes at you when we watch shitty rom-coms at the movies.”

Sehyoon is looking at him as if he’s just discovering this.

Maybe he is.

Seriously, did he not fucking notice that shit? It was clear as day! Even to Donghun, who arguably decided to stop dating until he was done with college!

“Huh.” Sehyoon mumbles, more-so to himself. “Interesting.”

Interesting indeed.

They sit there for a few minutes, not saying much. Instead they just idly fidget on the bench. His eyes take over the top row again, waiting. Come on - shouldn’t he be out by now?

“So.” Sehyoon starts, clicking his tongue. “You and Junhee?”

“Yes?”

“What’s up between you two?”

Donghun slides his glance over to Sehyoon, eyeing him quizzically. What exactly is this leading up to? He has an idea on what it might be. Yet - he doesn’t really want to discuss it. Because it’s stupid.

Yet he rises to the bait, because why not?

“Nothing’s up.” He says honestly. “Just friends.”

“Right. Just friends that go stargazing?”

“That’s a perfectly platonic thing, thank you.” He snorts indignantly. “He had never been stargazing. I merely offered to take him and he accepted.”

“Alright.” Sehyoon says. “But are you sure it’s completely platonic for you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You have a habit of...you know. Masking how you really feel from yourself.”

“I don’t have a crush on Junhee, if that’s what you’re inferring.”

Sehyoon glances at him skeptically. Which, in all honesty, is pretty unfair. He never grilled Sehyoon about his high key obvious crush - at least not often. So really he feels a bit flustered and off kilter about this whole situation. For the most part, he has the keen sense that Sehyoon won’t believe him no matter what he says.

Because Sehyoon knows him. Perhaps a little too well.

“I’m not inferring anything, I’m just striking up a conversation.” Sehyoon hums. “It’s just that you two have gotten really close really fast.”

“Well - that’s expected. We live together.” He says. “It’s just like you and Byeongkwan - you guys were a bit rocky when you first met but now you two can’t be separated.” Of course if he thinks about it like that, one would infer that he will develop a crush on Junhee sooner or later. Which - well. He doesn’t want to consider that. “He just needs..friends that don’t see dollar signs. I’m pretty sure any acquaintances he had in his old college just knew him for his family and not for himself, you know?”

“How noble.” Sehyoon says, rather blandly. “I’m not questioning the friendship you two have, I’m questioning how you really feel about him. Sometimes you seem almost..fond.”

“Is that something I shouldn’t be? Fond?”

“I mean..” He trails off, shrugging. “It’s just different. I haven’t seen you warm up to someone as quickly as you have to Junhee ever since you and Jaeseok broke it off.”

“We don’t speak of Jaeseok.”

“You ignoring him doesn’t make him actually stop existing. You know that, right?”

Yes. Yes he does.

But he chooses to also ignore that.

“What I know and choose to ignore about Jaeseok really does not matter, thank you.” Donghun gripes. “And how I act is not an after-effect or whatever you may think.”

Sehyoon just raises his hands in defeat.

Stupid Sehyoon mentioning stupid Jaeseok when it’s already been around three years since they broke up -

A door opens on the top floor and it draws his attention away from his ugly reminiscing. Instead he watches the zombie-esque students leave. The first one out is a kid with what he assumes to be the remnants of a neat ponytail. Now it’s all frazzled and loose and really doesn’t look like it fits in with a sit down test. It’s a little amusing to see the various states of disarray that the students are in. One is stretching and making an obscene noise like he’s been holding it in for the last half an hour. Another is weirdly wiggling their arms and a very peculiar guy is wearing his jacket backwards. Whether that is an aftermath of an exam or an attempt at comfort, Donghun doesn’t know.

And then there’s a familiar mop of brown hair that is precariously dangling his upper half over the handrail. A girl in passing offers a sympathetic back pat and the head jolts to look at her.

“There’s our beautiful bastard.” Sehyoon says. “Why does he look like he’s just gotten off a mechanical bull or some shit?”

“Why is mechanical bull the first thing you think of?” Donghun shoots back. “Do we wait for him to notice us or?”

“Throw something at him.”

“With our luck he’d somehow fall over the handrail.”

“It’d be impressive, really.”

“Shush.” He quips, squinting his eyes up at the other. After a moment of deliberation he sighs, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Hey, Junhee!” 

Junhee’s head shoots up at that, hands gripping the rail as he straightens himself up. He casts a few glances to both sides of him, making a confused face. Donghun just wants to laugh at him, but ends up waving when Junhee finally looks over to their bench. Sehyoon lets out a loud greeting as well and Junhee just waves back with seems to be an exhausted expression.

Still he seems to quickly move to the stairwell and Donghun is awkwardly trying to figure out if he should stand with the plastic bag in his hand or stay sitting. Some students can be like wild animals after a long final - lord knows what Junhee is like. But Sehyoon stays sitting so he figures he should too. Besides, Junhee knows where they are.

Junhee approaches just a minute or so later, hair ruffled and his shirt - which was previously tucked in this morning - arguably askew.

“We were starting to think you died.”

“I was starting to think I died.” Junhee comments dryly.

Poor guy.

The plastic bag rustles as Sehyoon picks it up, holding it out towards the younger.

“We figures that you’d like some food.” Sehyoon shrugs. “It was Donghun’s idea. It’s not much but, hey, any good is good food after a final right?”

Junhee blinks at the bag, seemingly processing what was in front of him. Man, if this is Junhee on day one - what will it be like for the rest of the week? Especially tomorrow seeing as that’s when they’re supposed to present their final. 

In the end Junhee just nods dumbly and takes the bag, peering inside it for a moment or two as he gives a quiet thanks to Donghun. He just hums in response, waving the thanks off. After all, it’s not like it’s the best food in the world or anything. Still Junhee looks at him like he’s saved his life or something. Dramatic.

“Can - can we walk?” Junhee asks after a moment, looping the bag around is wrist. “I don’t really want to sit down again.”

They both chuckle at that, but Donghun is secretly a little relieved. He’s tired of sitting too. Maybe he makes that a bit obvious by the way he practically pushes himself off of the bench, stumbling a little as he tries to suddenly balance himself after sitting for so long. Sehyoon is much more leisurely and cool when he gets up - but then again Sehyoon can merely exist and still look leisurely and cool.

“Where are we going?” Sehyoon asks, scuffing his sneaker against the cement before looking up at them. “We just gonna wander or?”

“I was thinking that we can go pick up the other two if they’re done with their finals for the day.” Junhee shrugs. “Then maybe we can...I dunno. Wander around the local mall?”

Well, that is a thing they could do. They haven’t goofed off in stores in a while, so it’d be interesting to incorporate Junhee into their shenanigans. He casts a glance over at Sehyoon who merely shrugs in response.

“I’m fine with it.” He says after a moment, smiling brightly. “If it helps you relax after your final.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I have a part two tomorrow.”

“Your Professor is out to kill you.” Is all he can think of to say. Because really who is cruel enough to have a two part final? That’s just downright despicable in his honest opinion.

Junhee just shrugs tiredly as if he has no answer. Probably couldn’t think of an answer if he tried. Donghun hums quietly and reaches out to pat his shoulder.

“Eat while we walk, you look dead on your feet.” He says, smoothing down the other’s shirt. Junhee just hums quietly. Donghun offers him the best smile he can muster before slowly turning around and pointing him in the right direction. “Let’s get going, then.” He says, simply starting to walk with hopes that the other will follow.

Sehyoon’s gaze pierces into his back. He prefers not to think about what it could be about. Junhee shuffles next to him as he fishes through the bag. He seems pleased with the cereal bar, which Donghun takes vague pride in. He _knew_ that Junhee would prefer that over a sad looking salad. Plus it’s easy to eat while walking.

“Don’t forget to drink water.” He reminds gently. “God forbid your body rebels against you not hydrating it.”

“I will.” Junhee chides, though he doesn’t sound genuinely sick of Donghun’s babying. “Thanks again for the food.”

“Anytime.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“You better not.” Sehyoon chips in. “Donghun will forget by next week.”

“Oh I’ll just bug him whenever I want food.” Junhee comments over the wrinkling of the plastic package. “I already do anyway.”

“And you haven’t died? Amazing.”

That feeling of being looked at is back. Now all he can hope is that Junhee doesn’t notice it.

“I’m not going to let him starve.” Is all he adds as a closing comment to this whole conversation. “So if he has to bug me about food, then I’ll deal with it.”

The noise Junhee makes is his standard noise of excitement. It’s something that Donghun has gotten used too, really. Always high pitched and happy. It’s the noise he enjoys hearing - because that means Junhee is enjoying whatever the two are doing.

But he’s not going to think about that with Sehyoon around. So instead he just walks a bit quicker despite the noises of protest behind him.

Gathering the other two is about as easy as he expects. They reach the dance room right on time for Byeongkwan, who is more than excited to spend some time with Junhee. Ever since the pizza hang out they’ve been more keen on befriending each other. So that in itself is great to see.

Yuchan is a bit of a harder pick up, seeing that they have to loiter around without looking like they’re out of place. They get a few odd looks when the class finally gets out. Mainly because this is a block dedicated to a majority of the freshmen classes. It was just convenient to have them all in the same general area. Yuchan at the very least is excited to see them, practically sprinting the short distance to meet up with them.

He’s apparently been boasting about hanging out with some ‘cool guys’ to his classmates. Which is a terrifying prospect because Donghun will argue that he’s not cool. He’s also pretty sure that the comment is not true at all, seeing as Junhee is struggling to open a water. He blames sore hands from writing and Donghun blames general weakness.

After rounding them all up, it was surprisingly easy to get them all on board the mall idea. They had walked back to the apartment for the time being, Junhee saying that he wanted to change and clean his face before heading back out. So it left Donghun and the other three with some downtime to laze around the living room as Latte did her rounds of sniffing everyone's ankles.

“Why does she do that?” Byeongkwan asks, settling himself down on the arm of the couch.

“Because this is her house and she is making sure that you’re worthy of visiting.” He replies in a deadpanned tone, scrolling through Instagram. “If she sneezes at you, I might have to kick you out.”

“You would not.”

“I might.”

Byeongkwan just barks a laugh at that.

“Would Junhee kick me out if she sneezed at me?”

“Junhee threw a pillow at me because I wouldn’t let her lay in my lap last night.” He says. “So really, I don’t know what extent he’d go to.”

“Was it a hard throw, though?” Yuchan asks.

“Nah.” It had all been in good spirit, nothing actually mean about it. The only squabble they had recently was over who had to fold the laundry. “The one I threw back was rougher than his.”

“Look at you guys, having pillow fights.” Sehyoon chimes in casually, but there is a certain glint in his eye that Donghun does not like. He doesn’t like it one bit.

“Yes.” Donghun huffs. “We know how to have fun.”

“Mhm.”

“We do!” He protests, frowning as the other three just chuckle. “Why is that hard to believe?”

“You both act so domestic and elderly, that’s all.” Yuchan chides. “Neither of you seem to be the partying type.”

That’s true. It’s also probably wise that they’re both not really the partying type. Though if he is honest, he does wonder what it would look like to see Junhee at a party. He’s pretty sure that he’d get some poor drunk sap pining over him by the end of the night. Which in itself would be interesting to see purely because he wonders how Junhee would handle it.

Probably not that well.

He seems used to fancy parties with flute glasses full of champagne. Not some frat party where a guy is doing two consecutive keg stands while his friends are encouraging him to a do a third. Imagining Junhee in the same room as that is like imagining a bunch of perfect roses surrounded by flames. You’d want to save them but you don’t know if you’d be able to.

It’s an interesting thing to think about. He’d, hypothetically, try to save the roses in that situation.

Probably.

He’s going to make sure that Junhee steers clear of frat parties either way - just to be completely safe.

“Earth to Donghun!” Byeongkwan calls out, snapping him from his thoughts. “You’ve been looking at the same photo for three minutes, keep scrolling. I wanna see what kinda shit you have on your feed.”

“Get on your own Instagram if you want to see photos so bad.” Donghun bites out, scrolling anyway. 

“Don’t pick on Byeongkwan, he’s lazy.” Junhee says as he enters the room. “Let him snoop on your account.”

“Hush, you.” Donghun replies, glancing up and -

Oh.

Junhee’s got a tiny ponytail. Fuck. That’s - that’s cute. He didn’t ever really consider that Junhee’s hair was just long enough to be put in a hairband.

“Cute.” Byeongkwan comments and Donghun finds himself mentally agreeing. “Was your hair bothering you?”

“Oh -” Junhee murmurs, reaching up to touch the little ponytail slightly. “I always put it up when I wash my face - I just figured I’d keep it up so I wouldn’t be constantly pushing it back while we’re walking. Does it look weird?”

“It looks good.” Donghun reassures, sitting up a little straighter. “So are you ready to go back out?”

Junhee nods and Donghun takes a little too much glee in the way the little ponytail bounces with the motion. He grins up at the other, who returns an even bright smile. Then he’s standing up and grabbing his keys, causing all the other’s to get up to follow him.

Getting all of them into the car is a process. He’s driving, of course. He’ll always be the designated driver, probably. Yuchan is fine with sitting in the back, purely because he intends to squish whoever ends up in the middle. He can’t quite do that in the front seat, after all.

Byeongkwan wants shotgun, Sehyoon is passive and Junhee just doesn’t want to get squished. 

“Sehyoon would you be okay with potentially getting squished by sitting in the middle?” Donghun asks as he unlocks the doors to the vehicle.

“I really don’t care, but if you want an actual answer - I’ll bully him into not squishing me.” Sehyoon replies blandly, shrugging.

“Alright.” He nods. “Chan get in the back first, then Sehyoon will be in the middle. Junhee do you want to rock paper scissors for shotgun or..?”

“I’m fine with sitting next to Sehyoon.” Junhee smiles. “I always lose at rock paper scissors anyways, so it’d just waste time.”

“Get in the car, then.” He says, opening the door and sliding into the driver’s seat. Byeongkwan seems very pleased with his easy claim of the passenger seat. All he can do is roll his eyes and look in the rearview mirror as Junhee climbs in. He looks - tired, mainly. But happy.

Once everyone is buckled in he finally starts the car, quickly shutting off the air conditioning. He forgot that he even had it on in the first place. It’s a little too cold outside to begin with and he doesn’t want to hear Byeongkwan’s bitching about it. Instead he turns the radio up a bit, knowing that if he offered the aux cord it would just turn into a bloody battle. 

For all it’s worth, the backseat seems more fun than the front. Byeongkwan is busy taking artsy snapchats while Sehyoon has the other two completely focused on a bunch of embarrassing photos he’s taken. He’s not specifying what or who the photos are of, but he feels paranoia over what could be on there. Yuchan is giggling chaotically while Junhee keeps snorting. It’s an interesting mix. He wouldn’t even know it was embarrassing photos if Sehyoon hadn’t announced it to the whole car.

By the time they’re parking in front of the mall, the backseat has fallen silent. Byeongkwan is excited to get out of the car, making a dramatic exit by practically sliding out the seat. All he can really do is roll his eyes at the behavior. He gets out, slamming the door behind him before walking over to stand next to Byeongkwan.

The thing is he gets to witness something that he hasn’t necessarily picked up on previously.

Junhee exits cars like he owns the damn world and everything in it. Which is a very weird thing to say but that’s all he can really think of. There’s just a bounce to Junhee’s step as he gets out, the way he holds himself - everything. Wherever Junhee goes he looks like he belongs there.

Byeongkwan nudges him with a playful grin. He’s not sure what the grin is for, but he’ll humor him and grin back all the same.

“What store are we terrorizing first?” Yuchan asks as he shuts the door behind him. 

“We are not terrorizing stores. No getting kicked out allowed, got it?” He says a tad seriously, making sure they were all out before pressing the button to lock the car. “Junhee can pick where we go first.”

Junhee hums at this, thinking. 

“I think it’d be fun to wander through the Bed, Bath and Beyond store. They always have something dumb on sale.” Junhee says with a slight shrug. “Which means there’s always something to laugh at.”

“The man speaks wisdom beyond his years.” Sehyoon confirms while Byeongkwan snorts. “Last time I went in there they had a dolphin shaped mug and I thought it was the funniest shit.”

His friends are dumbasses.

He smiles widely at being reminded about that.

“Let’s go, then.” He chuckles, moving to start walking. He lets the others take the lead in favor of walking behind them with Junhee. “Are you hungry, by the way? I know you haven’t had much to eat.”

“Yeah, kinda.” Junhee says with a small hum. “But a lot of the food from here kind of makes my stomach hurt.”

“Ah.” He says, putting his hands in his pockets. “Well if you see anything you want on the way home, let me know and I’ll pull over.”

“You don’t have to, I can just wait until we get home.”

“I’m serious. Just let me know.”

“I -” The other pauses. “- yeah, okay.”

“Good.”

Junhee just snorts. Still there’s a smile on his face, so Donghun is sated enough to know that Junhee is probably keeping that in mind. He just kind of nudges him a bit, pushing him ahead. Partially it’s so he can see the way the other’s hair bobs. It’s cute. 

But then he’s walking to catch up with the rest, seeing as Byeongkwan has set up his own speedwalking pace. It’s not that he’s intentionally doing it - he’s kind of just always been a speedwalker. Telling him to slow down wouldn’t do anything, either, since he’d insist that he’s going slow to begin with.

In the end their first steps into the mall are already chaotic. Junhee and Sehyoon know where the Bed, Bath and Beyond is. Byeongkwan _insists_ that he knows because this is the mall he works in. Yuchan is just sticking next to Donghun since he himself is watching the other three bicker about whether they need to go right or left.

“If you go left you end up at the boba place.” Junhee points out, frowning. “The boba place isn’t near the store!”

“How do you know?”

“Because me and Donghun go and get boba all the time and there’s no Bed Bath and Beyond over there!”

“Donghun please they’re gonna rip each other apart.” Yuchan whispers jokingly, nudging him in his side.

And he disagrees.

They’re not going to tear each other apart. But Byeongkwan might get flung into outer space if he keeps this up. Though he supposes he should also stop that from happening as well. Even if it is fun to watch them all bicker like soccer parents at a PTA meeting.

“Let’s do something special to prove who’s right, okay?” He steps in, moving to wave his hand in between them. “Why don’t you -” He pauses, motioning towards Byeongkwan, “- go left while Sehyoon and Junhee go right?”

“I was _just_ going to suggest that.” Byeongkwan huffs.

“You weren’t but sure if you want to believe that.”

Byeongkwan just sticks his tongue out at him but overall agrees. Junhee has this look on his face that seems to translate into the words ‘you’re a dumbass’. It’s mainly directed at Byeongkwan. Of course Junhee doesn’t curse usually so it’s probably a family friendly version of dumbass. Dumb-butt or something.

Poor Yuchan somehow gets roped into following Byeongkwan. Mainly because Donghun already knows who is correct in this situation.

“If we get there fast we can hide in the store.” He advises once the two younger ones have walked off. “Make them work for the cheap entertainment they get from us.”

“They just don’t understand our humor.” Sehyoon mock whines.

So it becomes less of ‘let's look in Bed, Bath and Beyond’ and more-so ‘how can we hide from the people who think we’re not funny’. They don’t know how long it’ll take for the other two to actually get to the store, but that just adds a sense of pressure to actually hiding. 

They lose Sehyoon to the candle aisle. He’s not quite sure how one can hide amongst the candles, but he won’t question Sehyoon’s methods. Junhee splits off like a sane person to go hide behind the display curtains. He’s hiding in the furthest rack, which is arguably the smartest idea since his feet are still visible. And Donghun. Well. He settles himself behind a giant box filled with pillows just across the aisle from Junhee. 

They are mature college kids.

But they are also about to go through a hellish week. So. Fun is allowed, just for now. It’s now just a waiting game and a game to see if the other two even care. This is just what Byeongkwan gets for being a lowkey dumbass, really. Then again, the three of them are dumbasses for hiding. They’re all dumbasses.

Except Yuchan, he’s just getting kind of drug into this. 

It turns out that Byeongkwan and Yuchan actually _do_ care. They do call him twice, which he hurries to silence. But then he can hear them talking a bit off in the distance, a bit too loud and obnoxious. And...Sehyoon is with them. He knew the candle aisle was a bad place to be. 

Though as the voices get closer, he can hear Sehyoon’s stoic claims of not knowing where he and Junhee are. Which is a loyal move. Donghun is deeply touched amidst the urge to laugh at how serious they make this all sound. 

Yuchan ends up being the one that finds him, unimpressed at the hiding spot as he just shrugs with a grin on his face. 

“Hey, it’s better than whatever Sehyoon probably did.” He argues as Yuchan helps him up, shaking his legs to get the circulation going in them again. 

“He tried to act like a customer but nearly dropped a candle, so.” Yuchan shrugs. “He was easy to spot.”

Donghun just sighs at that. It really should be expected. Sehyoon offers him a smile when he goes to meet up with the other two. 

“So, do you know where Junhee is?”

“Perhaps.”

“Expose him since he’s technically the winner.” Yuchan says, patting him on the shoulder. “We won’t pick on him since he won.”

“Are you going to pick on me since I was found first?” Sehyoon asks, looking appalled. 

“Of course.” Byeongkwan snorts with a snide grin. “When don’t we pick on you?”

Donghun just finds himself rolling his eyes before crossing over into the curtain area, walking to the back of it. He finds Junhee relatively easily, eyes trained on the floor to spot the shoes. He smiles as he pulls the curtain back, looking at Junhee.

“You’re the winner.”

“Damn right I am.” Junhee says, a bit proudly. “That’s not something that happens every day.” He grins, stepping out from behind the curtain and breezing past him. “So I will enjoy this victory.”

With the group back together, they all make a joint effort to find weird things in the store. Ugly pillows, bad smelling candles, as-seen-on-tv products that arguably don’t work. And from then on they just sort of drift from store to store, taking turns picking something out. Donghun chose a furniture store, Byeongkwan chose antiques, Sehyoon picked out a store absolutely filled with as-seen-on-tv products that put their first products to shame. 

And Yuchan decided to torture them by taking them into a Hot Topic. Which is, arguably, Donghun’s worst nightmare. There is just something chaotic about Hot Topic’s whole existence and he wants nothing of it. But he will admit that the tiny Pokemon keychains are very cute. He can also be secretly thankful that they’re not at Spencer’s. There are only so many things he wishes to see with his friends. 

By the time they really exit the mall to go back to the car, Junhee is happily craddling a Bulbasaur plush in his arms. He had no idea what Pokemon was, let alone Bulbasaur until like fifty minutes ago when they first entered Hot Topic. But he had quickly grown attached to the ridiculous plush and now here they are. 

“I’ll drop you guys off in the dorm parking lot, sound good?” Donghun asks as he unlocks the car doors. “And because of that, Junhee gets to ride shotgun so he doesn’t have to be disturbed by you leaving the car.”

“But I want shotgun.” Yuchan pouts.

“Tough shit.”

“Language.” Junhee corrects with a smile, opening the passenger door.

“I hope I catch you saying fuck one day, Jun.” Byeongkwan comments happily as Junhee settles himself down. “I feel like it’ll be historic.”

Junhee pretends to not hear a word Byeongkwan is saying. Which is arguably a fair tactic to use against Byeongkwan. But he might genuinely just be disgustingly in love with the Bulbasaur at the moment. He’s squishing it repeatedly, a smile on his face. It’s always the simple things in life that mean the most, he supposes.

They’re all ready to go home seeing as finals continue tomorrow. Not that they’re ready for finals but some of them have to cram study or even finish their presentations. What they don’t need to know is that he and Junhee are going to get food after dropping them off. He knows that Junhee must be hungry but is putting a class act of acting like he isn’t.

But he knows. It’s just something that he could tell.

A trip to Burger King might be in order, depending on how Junhee feels about their chicken fries today.

He, as always, makes sure that everyone is safely buckled up before starting the engine and starting the drive home. It isn’t as chaotic as when they were coming up to the mall, but this could be due to the fact that none of them have caught their second winds yet. Which is a good thing, otherwise one of them would probably suggest going to eat somewhere. 

True to his word, he swings by the dorm parking lot to let the other three out. Junhee is seemingly half asleep, arms still loosely wrapped around the Bulbasaur. So he’ll just assume that Junhee will eat wherever they end up. He waves goodbye to the other three throw the window, watching as Junhee scrunches his face at the sound of the door slamming. 

He chuckles lowly, driving back out the parking lot and heading back onto the main road. Burger King it is - Junhee is half asleep and doesn’t get a say in where they go.

Unless he really doesn’t want Burger King. Then Donghun will try to figure out something close by. The drive is silent, save for the few times that Junhee blinks his eyes open. Junhee mumble talks when he’s tired, which is oddly endearing. They talk about weird things, like odd flavored pop rocks. He learns that Junhee thinks that anything that’s cotton candy flavored is cursed.

Not actual cotton candy. He thinks that normal cotton candy is fine.

Donghun pulls into the nearby Burger King, surveying the scene for a moment before going through the drive-thru. It’ll keep him from forcing Junhee out of the car. 

He pulls up in the small line, rolling his window down. He also reaches to turn the radio volume down. His mom and dad had always told him that it was only polite to have the volume low when you were talking to people through a drive-thru.

The car in front of him seems to be ordering enough for a small army. At least it gives him time to scan through the menu before reaching to pat Junhee lightly. The other hums lightly, stretching in his seat before glancing over at him.

“We’re at Burger King. Do you still want chicken fries?” A sleepy nod. “What else?”

“Regular fries and..” He trails off, blinking a few times. “Do they have cookies?”

A quick glance at the menu.

“They got chocolate chip ones.”

“Three of those.” The other nods. “I can drink something from the house. Maybe a can of Sprite since we got so much of it.”

“It was on sale, can you blame me?” He asks. Junhee just barks out a laugh.

The sun is dipping low, painting the sky a beautiful myriad of colors. The lights on the car in front of them look like they’re glowing. He’s more than excited when he finally can pull up and order. Junhee is busy fiddling with the air conditioning and heating until Donghun playfully smacks his hand away. The employees voice is loud and abrasive through the shitty speakers, but he deals with it for the promise of food.

He pulls ahead after he’s done, coming to a stop behind the same car who has now settled themselves out the window. Since they ordered so much he has time to slip out his wallet and count his cash. He’s thankful for how cheap Burger King is.

“Do you think the person in front of us is like, one of those soccer moms we always see on television?” Junhee muses quietly. 

All he can do is snort at that.

“Well it makes sense doesn’t it? Ordering a lot of food at Burger King?”

“I figured soccer moms would prefer McDonalds.” He says, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. “That way they can chug a coffee that’s reminiscent of diesel fuel.”

“Gross.” The other says.

Well, is he wrong? He’s never tried diesel fuel but if he If did, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was reminded of McDonalds. That’s all he’s saying.

Finally they get to pull through to the window and get there food, Donghun passing the bags over to Junhee so he can set them down on the floor. He ends up forking over most of the cash in his wallet but he can’t really complain about it.

He takes off back on the road in the direction of their school, distantly reminding himself that his car is going to smell like stale fast food for the next few days.

“You can start eating if you want to.” He says casually as he makes a left turn. “I know you haven’t had anything substantial except for a bite of Yuchan’s pretzel back at the mall.”

“A disappointing pretzel.” Junhee sighs longingly. “But no, I’ll wait so we can laze on the couch and eat together.”

Donghun just smiles to himself about that.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Oh.” Damn it. “Just happy that someone likes to sit with me and eat.”

“Was there someone that didn’t like to?”

Yes. Yes there was. His ex enjoyed doing everything leading up to the meal together but usually refused to actually sit down and eat. Standing around, maybe. But rarely sitting. And he never explained why, either. If Donghun had just known why he’d be okay with it.

“Yep.” He finally says. “But it’s not important now since I have you to eat with, yeah?”

“Yeah.” 

Bless Junhee’s heart.

They arrive home with the biting chill of the oncoming night greeting them when they get out of the car. If he’s honest, Junhee has reached peaked college student. Messy ponytail with a stuffed animal in one hand and a bag of fast food in the other. All he really needs is some slippers and he’s good to go.

He makes sure that his car is locked before following after Junhee, who has gotten a head start up to the apartments. He breaks into a light jog to catch up to him, smiling when Junhee actually stops to wait for him. And then they’re walking again in tandem, footsteps falling in sync.

Vaguely he realizes that this is the most comfortable he’s ever been during finals week. Usually he’s too nervous to eat properly or is willing to go home and sleep right after a test. Yet he’s gone out of the house, bought a (somewhat) decent meal and actually plans to review with Junhee for their presentation tomorrow.

Park Junhee is a powerful man. That’s the only conclusion he can come to.

He barely registers the walk to their place, too busy bugging Junhee about giving him a bag to hold so he doesn’t feel completely useless. Junhee does finally give it up but they’re already halfway down the hallway to their door and really he feels like this was a bit counteractive.

Still. He has the bag.

They end up sitting on the couch to eat right out of the bags - of course Latte doesn’t appreciate being disturbed from her comfortable spot on the coffee table. She seems to forgive them quickly though judging by how eager she is to try and stick her head in one of the bags. He doesn’t think that she’s even trying to get the food, she’s just having fun sticking her head in the bag.

Which is honestly something he would probably do as a cat. Though part of him likes to think that he’d be more..dignified.

“You’ve been staring at Latte for like two minutes. Are you placing a curse on her?” Junhee asks casually, chuckling at his loud snort.

“I could never curse her. She’d suffocate me in my sleep.” He replies primly. “But no, I’m just thinking.”

“About?”

Well he’s certainly not telling him about how he was thinking of being a cat, so.

“Finals. And what to do after finals.” He lies. “I was thinking about how we should practice some more before tomorrow and then also thinking about how we should reward ourselves during our break after finals week.”

“Ah.” A pause. “Well I’m fine with practice after we eat. Then I’m going to bed early. As for after finals I..don’t know what to suggest. I’ve never really celebrated surviving finals week.”

“But..” Donghun starts. “That’s ridiculous! How are you supposed to relax if you don’t kick back with some friends and complain about all the dumb things that happen during finals week?”

A shrug as the other shoves two fries into his mouth.

“We’ll figure something out, if you want.”

“Sure.” Junhee says with a smile. “Seeing as you and Sehyoon are graduating at the end of this school year, I’d like to spend as much time chilling with you guys as possible.”

Ah right. Graduation was a thing that exists. It doesn’t feel real to him yet.

“We’ll still be around to hang out with you guys.” He points out. “Just because we’re graduating doesn’t mean that we’re just gonna ignore you guys since you’re still in school.”

Junhee looks mildly unconvinced. So now he’s even more determined to make sure it’ll happen. He will visit campus every damn week if he has to prove it - even if his job gets a heavy workload.

“Anyways.” Donghun says, clearing his throat. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”

“Ready for it to be done, yes.” Junhee muses. “But also ready to sing with you, so.”

Donghun just chuckles lightly.

“I’m ready to sing with you too.”

Junhee’s smile is so bright at that moment that all he can do is admire it. Fuck.

“Finish eating then we can sing.” Donghun chuckles. 

It’s probably the fastest way to shush the other and to get him to resume eating. Donghun smiles, continuing to eat through his own portion of fries.

Dinner gets finished easily with that motivation - soon enough Junhee is getting up to go throw away their trash and also get Latte her dinner. He makes an off hand comment that they’ll need to go shopping to make another batch of her food. Donghun just states that they can worry about it when it gets really low.

Practicing is fun with Junhee. They’re around the same skill level, so it’s nice to see someone who doesn’t need to be constantly corrected. Plus it allows Junhee to give him accurate corrections. So it makes it fun to sing through a song without having to stress about it. Then they laugh off any silly mistakes the other makes. It’s a good learning environment.

Donghun does find himself a bit distracted through their third or fourth run through since Junhee’s hair is a proper mess. The ponytail is barely hanging in there while his hair falls into a messy state around his face. Consider it a lack of impulse when he reaches forward and finally gently tugs the hair tie out during a quick break. Junhee gives him a shocked little look, to which he quickly retracts his hand and chuckles nervously.

“It was -“ Donghun starts, grinning lopsidedly. “It was barely hanging on.”

“Oh.” He blinks. “Thank you then.”

Donghun just offers a tight lipped smile, looking at the other’s hair.

“Can I - Can I fix it up?”

“Sure.”

Donghun nods seriously, reaching to fix the fly away strands of his hair. It’s as soft as he expected really. Junhee even tilts his head forward to let Donghun run his hands through the strands. At what point does it go from fixing his hair to just touching it? That’s a current ordeal that he’s going through.

But soon enough he’s pulling his hand back again.

“You’re good.” He says with a thumbs up. “Now it looks like slightly tamed bed head.”

“Ah that’s my usual go to look, fantastic.” Junhee chuckles. “Anyways.”

“Anyways.”

“Do you still want to practice?”

“Uh. Well.” Not really after that. He’s still admiring how soft his hair was. “I think if we keep practicing too much then it really end up straining our voices. Besides, don’t you have more classes to study for?”

“Ugh, don't remind me.” Junhee sighs out, slumping in his seat. “If I ignore them then the classes don’t exist.”

“That’s not how it works.”

“It certainly can be.” He says tiredly. “I have regrets for being a double major, the workload always sucks.”

“You said you liked it because it kept you busy.” He points out gently.

“I like to relax too.”

“We all do.” He sympathizes, moving to pat the other’s shoulder. “But just think, after this we’ll get to go on break! And if that means that you want to sleep in for a week, you can do that!”

“I suppose.” Junhee muses. “And then I start work next semester.”

“Oh?”

“Got a job at the college store.” He shrugs.

“Oh!” He grins, sitting up. “That’s awesome!”

“Yep, I’ll be able to help pay for things now.” Junhee says with a smile.

Donghun rolls his eyes.

“You aren’t that expensive to take care of.” He jokes lightly. “I think Latte is more expensive than you.”

“That’s...probably true.” Junhee says. “But she’s worth every penny.”

“Of course she is.”

They just look back over at Latte, who has currently set herself up with the stuffed bear pleasantly in between her paws. She looks completely content with where she’s at, not even sparing them a glance.

“Has she been listening to us sing?”

“Singing is a relative term. She might think that we’re screaming.”

Donghun just snorts at that. That’s a fair assessment.

Honestly the fact that they aren’t belting out high notes is amazing - of course they have neighbors to worry about. But even then he’s pleasantly surprised that they haven’t gotten any complaints yet. Not that they’ve really done anything to deserve it. 

He catches Junhee glancing at his phone for the time.

“Are you considering going to bed?” He asks, leaning back into the cushions.

“Yeah. I know it’s really early but..tests are draining.” 

It’s understandable. Junhee does look really tired. So he hums, stretching out.

“You can go to bed, I’ll take care of the dishes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll watch some television out here so the bedroom stays quiet.”

Junhee nods quietly, letting out a soft thank you before getting up from the couch.

“Goodnight, Donghun.”

“Night, Junhee.” He says. “I’ll wake you up when I get up, yeah?”

Another nod. And then..Junhee tentatively reaches out a hand to ruffle Donghun’s hair. Donghun just feels his face heat up. And then Junhee is gone, whisking himself off and out of the living room.

All Donghun can do is stay still. If he pretends, he can still feel the faint touch of Junhee’s fingers. The proof that it all even happened at all is the fact that his hair is messy. That is certainly a development.

He lets out a soft breath, raising his hand to gently run it through his hair.

Interesting.

A deep breath. He can’t be thinking about that right now. There are dishes to do and - and a living room to tidy up. Yeah. Who cares if it was cleaned recently. Everything can be cleaned multiple times. 

With a grunt he pushes himself off the couch. Then he’s smoothing out his shirt and staring at Latte. He wants to say something witty to her about her owner. But instead he’s letting out a strange noise and walking off into the kitchen.

Hair ruffling means nothing. It just caught him off guard. That’s it.

There aren’t many dishes in the sink. Which, honestly, doesn’t help his current thoughts. But he’s also not flustered enough to make more dishes than he currently has. Instead he goes to pick up Latte’s bowl to guarantee at least one bowl getting cleaned.

The flustered feeling lasts through one plate, Latte’s bowl, utensils, two cups..and then sweeping the kitchen floor. Then it turns into a hardcore dusting session and rearranging everything on the shelves by the television. Then it turns into drowning himself in the drama that’s playing. 

And then, as the clock ticks past nine, he decides that he’s finally going to lose his shit.

So instead he decides to text Yuchan. Because texting Sehyoon sounds like defeat and texting Byeongkwan is in a way texting Sehyoon. 

**(9:04 PM) Donghun:**  
_Hey. Hypothetically. What does it mean if you feel flustered when someone does something casual and overall mundane?_

**(9:05 PM) Yuchan:**  
_Ohh? are you feeling flustered rn?????_

**(9:05 PM) Donghun:**  
_It’s all hypothetical._

It’s all hypothetical. It’s only hypothetical.

**(9:07 PM) Yuchan:**  
_Ofc. Only hypothetical~_

This was a bad idea.

**(9:08 PM) Yuchan:**  
_It depends I guess...sometimes it could mean that youre not used to physical touch i guess. So getting touched could do that but you also are friends with some of the touchiest people i kno....so maybe like...maybe u just are just touch starved?_

He stares at the message. Pauses. Stares at it again. 

**(9:11 PM) Donghun:**  
_Aren’t those just the same things but worded differently?_

**(9:14 PM) Yuchan:**  
_Not rlly. Not being used to physical touch means no one touches u often enough. Touch starved means ur starved of contact from a specific person or like. Idk. hard to explain. U miss contact from a specific person in ur life. Or like a specific role of someone in your life._

The only thing that he can think of is that Yuchan needs to decide on if he wants to use text talk or not.

**(9:15 PM) Yuchan:**  
_Ofc this is all hypothetical._

**(9:16 PM) Donghun:**  
_I see. Thank you, Yuchan._

**(9:17 PM) Yuchan:**  
_Anytime <3 Have a good night~_

So. Touch starved, huh? He hums, tapping his phone against his thigh once the screen goes black. He’s never considered that - never gave himself the chance to consider it. Ever since he and Jaeseok kind of dwindled off, he decided that it wasn’t important to be affectionate. Or well. As affectionate as he had been with him.

It’s been awhile since he thought about Jaeseok. 

But no. He can - he can sort through all the muck of that later. Not right now, not with a duet tomorrow.

He pushes himself off the couch and goes to peek into the bedroom at nine forty. The lamp has dimly lit the outline of his sleeping roommate. Junhee always looks so peaceful.

It sets his mind at ease.

He slips in quietly. He has ultimately decided against showering tonight, but he can tell that Junhee has. The air smells heavily of shampoo. Interesting - he hadn’t even heard the shower. 

In truth he doesn’t even have the urge to change into pajamas, but he knows that he’s got to at least change into sweatpants. So he does. Then that kicks his ass enough to at least put a more comfortable shirt on. And that spurs him into going to brush his teeth and wash his face.

Afterwards he crawls into bed and plugs his phone in. Double checking his alarms, he decides that it’s about time that he sleeps too. This is early for him. He rolls over so he could see Junhee, notices the absence of ambient noise. He really was tired.

“Goodnight, Junhee.” He whispers quietly before letting his eyes flutter closed.

Startling awake to the shrill sound of an alarm is never fun. Even less fun when you could’ve sworn that you just shut your eyes. Furthermore, it’s just not fair. Yet here he is fumbling with an alarm. And somehow Junhee is still sleeping peacefully. He rubs his eyes blearily, reads the time, rereads it, sighs.

Then he’s rolling off the bed and stumbling into a standing position. Junhee has rolled over to face the opposite way at some point during the night, legs tangled in the sheets. He just shakes the other’s shoulder lightly, mumbling quietly. Junhee rolls over just enough to glare at him something fierce. It’s actually a bit scary.

“Gotta get up.” He slurs, rubbing the other’s shoulder. 

“No.” Junhee whines.

“Yes.”

“No.” 

“Junhee.”

“Make me.”

So he makes him by pulling him up with a mix of gentleness and overall force. The other is basically a rag doll, trying to use all his weight to lay back down. Donghun won’t allow that, not when they barely have forty five minutes to get ready and twenty minutes to walk to class.

“You’ve been asleep since around seven thirty, Junhee.” Donghun snorts lightly, rubbing the other’s back. “It’s time to get up and start the day fresh.”

“I don’t want too.”

“Sucks, we gotta.” He hums, patting his back. “How about you go start the coffee and I’ll shower. You can sleep out in the living room until I’m out, okay?”

Junhee seems to contemplate that deal before nodding and crawling out of bed. Donghun just smiles at him blearily. He can consider that a success even if the rest of the day is bad.

Chan’s words still ring out in his mind. Carefully he reaches out to smooth down the the wilder parts of Junhee’s hair. The other hums at the touch, tilting his head towards his hand.

Interesting.

“I’m gonna go get coffee started.” Junhee murmurs sleepily after a moment before pulling his head away and starting to walk.

Donghun will make his shower quick in hopes to keep Junhee from falling asleep on the couch.

He likes to think he sets a new apartment record today - he only took maybe six minutes. That’s pretty good. If anything it takes him about the same amount of time to get dressed. The smell of coffee is just barely starting to register to him as he strides down the hall in a comfortable pair of socks.

Junhee is actually still in the kitchen, half splayed over one of their few counters.

“Rise and shine.” He teases lightly, opening the fridge. “What do you want to eat?”

“Not hungry”

“Junhee.”

“Just want coffee.”

Just coffee is a terrible idea. Donghun sighs, glancing at the few apples that they have in the fridge. Junhee put them there instead of on the counter for whatever reason.

“Okay. What we’re going to do is eat apples and peanut butter for breakfast. Then we’ll go do our presentation and then in that sliver of time we have we’ll go to the dining hall for breakfast, alright?”

Just an indecipherable noise.

It’s a miracle in all regards that he gets him to eat something aside from coffee. It’s also a miracle that Junhee actually wakes up enough to not whine about having to get dressed. They even get to leave on time. Actually they even manage to leave early after Junhee sets down Latte’s bowl of food.

Donghun can’t help but wonder how bad Junhee will get through the rest of the week. It’s only Tuesday and he’s already exhausted. He hums quietly before moving to latch his arm with Junhee’s. 

“It’s so you keep up.” He says as he continues walking. “I see you shuffling. I’ll let you go if you want me to, though.”

“No.” Junhee murmurs. “It’s nice.” He says, pausing to match his strides with Donghun. 

He’s thankful for that. At least they’re not holding hands - he’s got the habit of going clammy in situations like this. So he’ll take casual arm...latching? Arm locking? Is there a word for this? Whatever.

The sun is rising and slowly chasing the chill away. They walk in stride, Junhee tilting his head up towards the sky. Donghun, meanwhile, is repeating their slate for the presentation. His name, Junhee’s name, the song, the artist. The only thing he worries about is the rare chance of their voices cracking. Junhee does not seem concerned with these things. If anything he seems..at peace despite his sleepiness.

The calm before the storm. 

They don’t have to walk far today, their teacher was wise enough to just say that they need to meet in the auditorium. The acting and theatre teachers had once again been willing to let her use it and she was nice enough to send an email just asking them to meet her there. She was going to be half an hour late, so she said in the email that they could just warm up while waiting. Which he’s thankful for.

The auditorium comes into view and Junhee slows down to look up at it.

“This place is my personal hell today.”

Ah right. He’s got a part two of an exam today.

“Why did your teacher use a different classroom yesterday?” He asks, moving to guide Junhee along with a firm hand on his back.

“Some students painted on the walls over the weekend. My professor was pissy about it and didn’t want us testing in a ‘messed up’ environment.” Junhee shrugs. “They were cleaning it all day yesterday and I guess it’s clean enough to have us test in there again.”

“Ah.”

Junhee just sighs, rolling his shoulders.

“Let's take it one class at a time. We sing, we get breakfast, I walk you back here, okay?” He soothes, patting the other on the shoulder before moving to hold the auditorium door open.

Junhee stares at him for a moment before sighing again.

“Okay.”

He flashes the best smile he can as Junhee walks through. The smell of the auditorium is..stale. It’s always stale. Even when they do have performances in here, they do nothing to try and make it smell fresh. It’s a nice place all the same but it’s not the greatest thing to start a morning with. 

They’re some of the first there. Which works for them, really. They get to warm up as much as possible and also goof off. Mainly goof off. Junhee needs some fun before hell breaks loose. They run through the song a few times and then they start playing around on their phones until their professor enters with a flourish. 

They wait a few minutes for any last minute show ups and then they’re starting. He’s starting to learn that this professor likes to speed through exams. So when she asks for everyone to sit down so they can start he makes sure to sit next to Junhee for convenience.

Junhee doesn’t want to go first. Donghun wishes he did. It’d be easier this way. But Donghun does get his way and gets them to up fifth. Which is arguably less nerve wracking. Their professor starts cycling through the order and he can admire how odd some of the pairs are. But hey, it’s their grade not his.

And then finally, _finally_ it’s their turn. He’s been practicing in his head for the last four performances.

He stands up and straightens out his clothes before offering his hand to pull Junhee up out of his chair. He guides him along up the steps towards the two seated chairs. They get some time to adjust the microphones as their professor writes down any last notes she has. Then she looks up at them, squinting through the bright lights.

“Good morning you two.” She says with a grin. “Go ahead and introduce your piece.”

Junhee just spares him a fleeting glance. Donghun just smiles and clears his throat.

“My name is Lee Donghun and my partner is Park Junhee.” He starts. “The song we will be doing is an acapella version of This Love by Davichi.”

He can make out the faint smile of his professor through the lights.

“You may begin.”

And so they do. He forgets about everything - the professor, the uncomfortable chairs, the stares of classmates. All he needs right now is to hear his voice melding with Junhee's.

That's all he needs.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello~ Finished writing this a few days ago but have been too mentally tired to properly edit + post it :(
> 
> Updates:  
> \- My wrist is considerably better!  
> \- It took me a few extra days (of course you wouldn't really know since I'm updating around the same time..) to finish this chapter because I've been dog & cat sitting recently and MY GOD dogs are a hassle. The cat is chill though but actually did help inspire a scene in this chapter.  
> \- I'm...completely re-writing chapters 1 - 3 of P.O.M (the acronym for the vampire fic :P). I was looking at it recently and decided that I hated how I was writing it and scrapped the whole thing to build from the ground up.  
> \- Overall I am...not thrilled about this chapter. The pet sitting has really drained me creatively ;-;. But progress is made!
> 
> As usual I'll skim through for typos here and there but overall I never want to reread this chapter it was hell to write with my creativity drained x_x

“I fucked up.” He groans, holding his head in his hands. Yuchan seems to be very unamused by it.

“You didn’t.”

“My voice cracked!” He says, shaking his head. 

The assignment with Junhee had gone well - Junhee’s voice had wavered a few times but it had sounded nice. And then his own vocal cords had to go against him and crack during the last twelve seconds. It was mortifying, even more so when Junhee had comforted him and said that it wasn’t as bad as he thought it was. But no. A voice crack could fuck up a grade.

And their grade was shared. Junhee doesn't deserve a lower grade just because his throat decided to riot. 

“He’ll get a lower grade and then he’ll hate me again over it -“

“The little voice in your head is being irrational again.” Yuchan huffs. “You’ll be fine. He won’t want to kill you or anything. Besides. This literally happened two days ago. And your teacher likes you, so.”

“Yes and I’m still upset about it, sue me.” He bites out, scrubbing his hands down his face. “He even reassured me that it was okay!”

“Because it is!”

“It isn’t! Not during a group project.” He says, dropping his hands onto the table. 

Yuchan just rolls his eyes. Donghun knows that he’s being vaguely ridiculous. But Junhee has been stressed over the smallest things lately over all the tests and presentations. He nearly cried over dropping an egg this morning. It was..nothing short of terrifying.

“I just don’t want him to be stressed over a grade.”

“Then make life easy on him for a bit.” Yuchan shrugs. 

“How?” Donghun frowns, pausing. “I can tell he needs a break but I don’t know how to try and help him relax.”

“Just ask?”

“He’ll say that he’s fine.”

“Not when he’s three steps away from a cry fest over finals week. Besides, he just has to survive the rest of today and tomorrow. You can help him with that.” Yuchan smiles reassuringly as if it’s easy.

It’s not easy. It’s never been easy. 

“I guess.” Is what he settles on because Yuchan will keep this up if he doesn’t. “I just hope he doesn’t have the spontaneous urge to drop out during his exam right now.”

“What is it?”

“Some scene he had to do. Group project, was ranting about it all last night until like two in the morning.”

“And you listened to him.”

Donghun shrugs.

“He’s cute when he’s on a tangent.”

Yuchan raises an eyebrow. Donghun suddenly becomes very interested in the patterns of the library table they’re at. There’s a quiet murmur of students studying around them. He’s also pretty sure he can hear the muffled anguish of a failed grade. It’s tragic, really, but also relatable. Not really - actually - he hasn’t failed a final since sophomore year. 

“Ignore that.” He comments after a few minutes of silence. “I didn’t say that.”

“Of course you didn’t.” Yuchan says. “Just like your text from a few days ago was hypothetical.”

“It was.”

“Was it?”

“I -“ He starts, aiming to defend himself. But really, what’s the point? “No.”

“So...” The younger trails off. “It was a genuine question, then?”

A small nod.

“Then it was about..?”

“Junhee.”

“Ah.”

It’s a realization that he’s coming to. He wouldn’t necessarily say that he has a crush - no, crushes are too sudden and he’s not ready to deal with it. But he is very fond. He had a dream last night about him and Junhee just driving down along the coast line, sun shining and Junhee wearing a very fitting striped shirt.

Yeah.

He’s fond.

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? I haven’t dated for awhile and he’s well, he’s there.” He says, if not a little helplessly. But saying that doesn’t sound right - he makes it sound as if Junhee is just a convenient outlet for all his burdens. “You’ve seen him.” He amends, though it doesn’t make it any better.

“I have.” Yuchan says. “I’ve also seen how he’s comfortable with leaning against you.” He grins a bit impishly. “Perhaps he’s fond of you.”

“I’d like to think that he is.” He says, letting out a quick snort. “Not in the way that you will take that. Just. Fond in a friend way.”

“Fond in a friend way.” Yuchan repeats. “How cute.”

“I was his first friend on campus, Yuchan. I have a soft spot for him because, well -“ He huffs, leaning back and crossing his arms. “- nevermind.”

“Do tell.” 

He stares at him for a moment, searching for a hint of scrutiny. Then he’s deflating just a bit, biting the inside of his cheek. This fondness has been eating at him for longer than he’d cared to admit and now that he doesn’t feel like he’s been judged by a lovestruck fool, all his walls are crumbling into a heaping pile of recognition.

“You won’t tell the dumbasses?” He asks, quietly, glancing over at the other.

“Nah.” Yuchan says reassuringly. “Besides, they’re too busy doing their weird ass mating dance around each other.” He continues, moving to rest his chin in his hands. “So tell me whatever you want.”

How funny is it that he used to think Yuchan wouldn’t fit in? Yet here he is, listening to Donghun’s self complicated woes.

“When I called him a friend for the first time, it was an accident.” He starts. “But god, Yuchan, he smiled so bright. Lit up his whole face and he looked so genuinely surprised that I considered him a friend. And he had no reason to be happy about that, I had been such absolute shit to him, but calling him a friend seemed to skyrocket him to the damn moon. I sincerely don’t think he’s quite had the friend group like the one he has with us.”

“And that’s when you started feeling fond?”

“That’s when I started feeling that - that maybe he wasn’t so bad.” He shrugs helplessly. “Then he’d talk about his parents, snippets of them here and there. Or his older sister. And the fact that he trusted me with those snippets of his life just..” He trails off. “I started feeling fond when I figured out that he talks to me because he knows he’ll get a response.” 

Yuchan is staring at him like he’s got the secret to world peace. It’s fucking unsettling.

“You’ve gone soft for him.” Yuchan says with a certain look on his face. Donghun doesn’t like it.

“I’m always soft.”

“Like a hard boiled egg with the shell still on, sure.” The other snorts, tapping his fingers against the top of the table. “But you’re softer with him.”

“And what about it?”

“Nothing. It’s just cute, that’s all. I saw you tell him to put his money away when we were all splitting the fees for dinner.” Yuchan says with a quirk of an eyebrow. “Byeongkwan would’ve whined so much if he had noticed.”

“Me and Junhee split a meal, he was trying to pay for more than half of it so I told him to put the cash away.” Donghun huffs out.

“You two are practically married.”

“I’ll tackle you right here, right now.”

Yuchan just giggles impishly. Donghun squints at him, fully intent on delivering his promise when his phone vibrates. It’s loud against the table and he can’t help but flush a little at the few heads whipping around to look at them. Yuchan just giggles more.

He doesn’t necessarily want to answer it now, because it’s a vibration that he has set to a very particular person. One that they have been talking about.

Park motherfucking Junhee.

And Yuchan is kind of nosy with texts, seeing how he whined over Byeongkwan texting Sehyoon a string of emojis that somehow turned into a message. Yuchan wanted to know what it meant and Donghun himself was just surprised that emojis actually meant something. If Yuchan figured out that it was Junhee he’d be done with.

“Are you going to answer that?”

He probably should. Probably. He’ll think of an excuse to leave in a few minutes.

“Nah, it’s nothing important.” Donghun shrugs. “But that does remind me - I need to set a vibration pattern for you.”

Yuchan looks positively thrilled at the idea of him getting something personalized. It diverts the conversation to him begrudgingly letting Yuchan tap in his own pattern. Of course this was after he sneakily cleared the message preview. It helps him keep Yuchan busy, otherwise he has a feeling he’d be interrogated again which is something he really doesn’t want to deal with.

The younger is only truly satisfied after he makes a very incessant vibration pattern. He insists that it sounds upbeat and Donghun thinks it’ll give him a headache. He supposes the two concepts correlate well.

Yuchan passes his phone back to him and he pockets it for safekeeping. 

“So.”

“So.”

“Are you surviving your first finals week?” He asks, trying to keep a conversation rolling. “It’s rough, right?”

“A bit.” Yuchan admits. “Professors get so scary during finals week.” He pouts dramatically.

“They’re like us.” Donghun chuckles. “Running on four hours of sleep and two monster energy drinks.”

“I slept for three hours last night and I like to think that I’m not ready to snap someone’s head off, though.” The other says. “Meanwhile my professor looked ready to hurl her mug off the table today when someone sneezed.”

Donghun chuckles at that. He, distantly, feels his phone vibrate again in his pocket - the same pattern from previously. Junhee. He kind of idles around for a few minutes, tapping his fingers and surveying the ceiling pattern before clearing his throat.

“I should get going.” He says, smiling despite the random excuse. “I want to make sure that Junhee is surviving his finals.”

“Of course.” Yuchan nods. “I need to study photography terms anyway, so.” He says. “Go take care of Junhee, make the last few finals easy on him.”

“Will do.”

“I know you will.” Yuchan says as he gets up from the table. “Message the group chat when you have an idea on what we should do during our break.”

“I will.”

Yuchan just nods politely and excuses himself from Donghun’s presence to disappear into the aisles of books. Donghun watches him leave before taking a deep breath and fishing his phone out of his pocket to check the messages.

**(11:02 AM) Junhee~:**  
_I hate my professor! :D_

Oh no. The juxtaposition of the smiley, the exclamation point and the actual message is enough for it to be worrying. The fact that it’s Junhee is even worse.

**(11:13 AM) Junhee~:**  
_I have to go back to class by 12:00 and i dont want to fucking go!!!!!!!!!!_

Okay. Alright. So he’s out of class, that’s fine. It sounds like he needs to go back in. But he doesn’t want too.

Dammit, he should have answered the first message.

**(11:2 AM) Donghun:**  
_Where are you?_

Please answer. Please, please answer. He’s already getting up from the table, pushing his chair in before striding off to the exit. 

**(11:23 AM) Junhee~:**  
_Vending machine at the end of the giant hallway._

He’ll just assume that Junhee wants to talk. Or rant. But he does need to get Junhee back into class, so he can at least go there and lead him back.

**(11:28 AM) Donghun:**  
_I’ll be there in like ten minutes okay?_

As he walks, there’s no response. He’s not sure if that makes him feel more comforted. The big hallway arches in front of him, empty aside from the few students crossing into other classroom blocks. He knows that the vending machines are at the other end, so he picks up the pace.

All he wants is to get to Junhee before he decides to suddenly ditch the college lifestyle and become a vending machine demon. Which is a situation that he had to deal with Byeongkwan, once. It took twenty minutes to convince the younger that leaving would be wise. Twenty minutes and way too many bags of chips. 

Junhee for the most part is easier to work with. Usually.

Walking down the hallway in dead silence serves as motivation to go faster. He says hi to a few people that he knows when he passes by them, but even then he makes sure that he’s walking fast enough so they know that he has places to be. That is, in general, how he’s survived the last few years here.

The vending machines come into view, stood next to an updated water fountain that makes it easier to fill up water bottles. And Junhee is standing between the two, facing the wall of the classroom that the machine runs up against. Well. He could’ve seen worse. There’s been a few kids that got their arms stuck in the machine. Usually that was pretty funny, though.

He clears his throat, adjusting the strap of his bag before getting closer. 

“Hey, Junhee.” He greets carefully, stopping just short of the water fountain. Junhee snaps his head back, blinking quickly as he glances over at him and - 

Oh.

It looks like he’s been crying. 

“What’s up?” He asks gently, taking a few steps closer. He feels like he’s going to ask another question but he gets side tracked before he could. In the few seconds of silence, Junhee had closed the distance between them and all but thrown himself against Donghun. He wobbles slightly, tilting his head to avoid a collision between his jaw and Junhee’s forehead. Instinctively he braces an arm against the other’s back, frowning down at him. “Hey. Talk to me, okay?”

There’s more silence that falls after that and Donghun allows it. He’s not going to force Junhee into a conversation - he’ll just stand there for as long as needed. Junhee seems thankful that there’s a solid force to lean against that _isn’t_ a wall. At least he can feel like he’s protecting Junhee’s head from the indentation of the stucco he was just leaning against. 

After a few minutes Junhee finally shuffles away, rubbing his face a few times.

“My professor is a piece of shit.” Junhee mumbles, frowning. 

“Must be, if he got you to swear because of him. Multiple times, for that matter.” He says in attempt to have at least a bit of a light piece in the conversation. Junhee’s lips almost twitch into a smile. “What happened?”

“He just -” Junhee starts, motioning towards the open air around them. “When he gave us our assignment, he told us that it wasn’t mandatory to dress for the part. These were more-so rough drafts of a final product that we’d do at the end of the school year. He just wanted to make sure that we had our lines memorized and that we had blocked our scene well enough.”

Donghun has no idea what the fuck the phrase ‘blocked our scene’ means, but he nods all the same.

“So we get to class today and then he’s suddenly talking about how we lose points if we’re not at least ‘somewhat’ dressed for the part.” Junhee continues, face twisting into a deeper frown. “Because apparently we, as actors, should always be ready to dress for the part!”

“That’s bullshit.” 

“I know!” He spits out, staring at the empty space between them. “And like - I get it. Fine. Whatever. Noted for next time. So obviously we’re stressed after that because we absolutely have to nail it on out performance since we weren’t prepared in the outfit department. But some of our executions are messy and I end up stuttering a few times like a damn idiot and -”

“Hey.” He’s not going to let that fly. “You’re not an idiot for stuttering. You’re fine. Stuttering happens.”

He remembers, vaguely, an eerily similar statement coming from Junhee shortly after their final on Tuesday. Except that one was about voice cracks.

“I _guess_.” Junhee stresses. “So our professor decided to give us a break about halfway through all the performances and he pulled me aside to say that he expected more from my group.”

“What the fuck?”

Junhee just shrugs at that. 

“I guess he had high hopes for me. Or us. Whatever.”

Donghun frowns at that, glancing around the hallway for a moment before holding his arms out.

“Come here.” He says quietly. “I think you need a hug.”

Junhee stares at him like he’s half expecting Donghun to say sike. But in the end he practically clings to him, burying his head into Donghun’s shoulder. In truth, Donghun doesn’t know what to really do in this scenario. So he awkwardly plays with a few strands of Junhee’s hair with one hand while splaying the other on his back. If Junhee is picking up on any of this awkwardness, he’s being kind and ignoring it. Donghun’s thankful for that. 

“It’s shitty for a professor to say something like that, especially during finals week.” He soothes. “And it’s shitty that he told you one thing and then removed points for it despite saying it wasn’t a requirement. Some professors just like the power they have over students, yeah?” A small nod against his shoulder. “All you can do is accept that your professor is like that.”

“Yeah..” Junhee trails off quietly. “But now my grade will suck.”

“But will you pass?”

“I -“ He pauses. “I will.”

“Then you’ll be okay.” He says, ruffling the other’s hair. “It’s shitty, but you’ll be okay.”

Junhee nods, slowly taking a few steps back and blinking quickly. He looks fairly put out over this and Donghun wishes that he could go put the professor in a headlock over it. Instead he rolls his shoulders and looks at the vending machine.

“Do you want something from here before you go back in?”

“I was planning to get something but it wasn’t accepting my money.”

He grins. Now this, this he can do. He can buy something for Junhee and give him a little pick me up. It’s not a lot, but it’s something. Even small actions can be good ones. 

Donghun hums quietly, patting the back of his jeans before grabbing his wallet to count and pull some money out. Then he moved to stand in front of the machine, staring at all the options.

“What did you want, Jun?” He asks, casting a glance at the other as he turns around to face Donghun’s direction.

“Either Chex Mix or the mini Chips Ahoy.” Junhee says. Then he’s seemingly thinking for a moment before nodding to himself. “Chex Mix. It’s loud and I want to annoy my professor.”

“Passive aggressive eating, I can support that.” He chuckles, inserting his money and pressed the numbers associated with the Chex Mix. The machine rattles to life, dropping the bag down into the pick up slot. He crouches, feeling around for the bag before pulling it out and standing up. He holds it out for the younger to take, relieved at the small smile on his face.

It’s better than tears.

“Thank you.” Junhee says with a small nod, holding the bag close to him like it was important. “I’ll pay you back.”

“Don’t bother, seriously.” He says dismissively. “Consider this a treat to help you get through the last half of your class.” He shrugs. 

Junhee makes a small noise, perhaps a non-verbal ‘thank you’. Whatever he can do to cheer the other up, he’ll do. He hums, observing a few students walking back down the classroom block.

“Do you need to go back in?” He asks, watching as Junhee’s lips twitch. He’ll take that as a yes, seeing how Junhee seems a little more annoyed at the mention of it. “Want me to walk you back? I know it’s a short distance but..I dunno. Maybe I can catch a glimpse of your teacher and give him the stink eye.”

That makes Junhee snort. It’s a happy noise, despite the circumstances.

“I’d appreciate it.” Junhee says, motioning towards the classrooms. “Mine is at the very end.”

“Let’s go, then.” He replies, moving to spin the other completely around. He hooks an arm around the other’s shoulders, grinning at the startled reaction as he starts to walk towards the classroom. It’s the only one with the door wide open, arguably set as a reminder that the students have to return. 

Junhee seems to slow down as they get closer to the room, expression evident that he didn’t want to go in. Donghun just huffs quietly at that, making an effort to keep walking at a fast pace. It’s not that he’s necessarily dragging Junhee along, but he is coaxing him back to class.

He stops right in front of the open doorway, sneaking a glance at Junhee. Or he attempts to. But Junhee glances at him at the same time. He just smiles at him as he starts retracting his arm.

“Sorry for bothering you.” Junhee says sheepishly. “You probably had stuff to do instead of dealing with me.”

“Junhee.” He says, pursing his lips together. “You’re my friend - if you need a pick me up, I’m gonna give you a pick me up. I’d rather see you happy rather than continue doing something without knowing that you’re upset.”

Junhee seems to take those words and think about them. Then he just makes a soft noise of acknowledgement before looking at the classroom.

“I’d do the same for you, you know.” He comments idly, blinking a few times before scuffing his shoes against the asphalt. “If you ever needed to talk.”

Aw. That’s so heartwarming, actually. 

“I appreciate it, Junhee. I really do.” He replies softly. “Now go finish your class. Then you can go back to the apartment and nap it all off.”

There’s a silence between them, but it’s thoughtful more than anything. Junhee turns to him just a bit and smiles before hugging him one last time. Donghun’s grown surprisingly used to this despite it just starting to happen a mere fifteen minutes ago. He chuckles lightly, patting the others back before he ultimately pushes him away by the shoulders gently.

“Just think about it almost being break time.” He says encouragingly. “Think about stuff you’ll want to do, it’ll help you get through it all.”

Junhee stares at him before letting out a quiet noise - somewhere between a sigh and a laugh.

“I will, Donghun.” He says, stepping back all the way and turning to start entering the classroom. “I’ll see you later.” He offers, giving a small wave before stepping inside.

Donghun just watches him go, trying to send good vibes the younger’s way. In truth he feels a little lost on what to do now that Junhee has gone back to class. Sehyoon is blissfully passed out at the dorm, Byeongkwan is working and Yuchan is studying. So he..can go back to the apartment. Maybe study. Maybe play with Latte.

Playing with Latte sounds more fun. He nods to himself before turning around to head back towards the hallway. The original plan is to walk straight down and towards the apartments, but he gets side tracked by the bulletin board about halfway through. 

Not everyone really reads off of this thing, but he does. Mainly because his friends pay nearly no attention to on campus activities and he likes to pride himself in knowing what the hell is happening. 

A poster catches his eye for its aesthetic purposes, printed on actual poster paper with nice colors. He skins over the information, making a little ‘ah’ noise.

‘Hot Chocolate Holiday’ is on Saturday. He briefly remembers advertising it on his radio. It’s still free, it still lasts well into the night and he’s assuming that it’ll still be nicely decorated. There’s a little asterisk that says that ‘snacks may cost money’ but that’s kind of a given. Hm. Maybe -

He clicks his tongue and keeps moving. It’s not worth over thinking. Doing that just makes it harder to actually want to do something. But it is nice to consider that maybe, just maybe, he’d go again. He skipped that last few that they offered. Mainly because going alone was, well, lonely. He would’ve invited the others but he worried that they’d think it was stupid.

The thought that preoccupies his mind as he heads back is the consideration of somehow talking to Junhee’s professor. He’ll never do it - is too paranoid at the thought of making it worse. But if he was able to safely talk sense into a dumb professor, he would. He’s done it before for Sehyoon, has almost done it for Byeongkwan. The only reason why he didn’t do it is because of the fact that Sehyoon did it before him.

Man, they’ll be cute when they finally get their shit in order. 

That thought alone makes him chuckle. They’re a good match for each other. Humming a soft little tune, he strides his way back to the apartments with no worries. The classes he had today were all done so the professors said that they didn’t have to come in.

As he approaches the apartments, all he can think about is being excited about resting. Maybe sometime during the break he and Sehyoon can plan another work out session - they hadn’t done one in awhile. But mostly he’ll either sleep or play with Latte. Of course do some shenanigans with Junhee. The younger had talked about binge watching a whole season of The Good Place. Which, arguably, is a show he has never heard of. That could be fun.

By the time that he’s in the complex and unlocking the door, he’s craving a cold soda or pineapple. Maybe both. But they don’t have any pineapple so whatever soda they have will do. He clicks the door shut behind him, shoes already halfway off before he even properly locks the door.

And then he’s walking down into the living room, glancing around and -

Oh what the fuck.

First off, there is the vague smell of coffee in the air - it’s gone a bit musty and stale, but the scent of caffeine is still there. Second, there’s a drying puddle of it on the kitchen floor with a the pot itself on its side on the countertop. He moves, side stepping the spill to pick the pot up and inspect it. No cracks. Thank god.

No noise loud enough to startle the neighbors. 

“Latte.” He grumbles quietly, staring down at the mess before sighing and grabbing the washcloth. He runs it through the water before ultimately squatting and wiping the stain up. It’d probably be smarter to use a paper towel but he isn’t exactly firing on all cylinders. This does explain why he didn’t have a welcoming committee.

After the mess is wiped up, he just simply dumps the washcloth back in the sink before walking out of the kitchen to go toss his backpack onto the couch. There is no disaster here, thankfully. There are a few figurines that he spent too much money on.

However, he does spot the sign of shenanigans down the hallway by their room. He squints as he approaches, recognizes the magazine that had on his bed earlier this morning. Their room is decidedly less damaged than the kitchen, a few things knocked off the bed and a very peeved Latte swatting at her own paw furiously.

Part of him wants to be mad about the (small) mess. But Latte is stressed and the incident probably happened a while ago so scolding her would make no sense. Instead he is here to help.

“Hey sweetheart.” He coos, watching as the bundle of fur rolls over onto her side with one of her legs stretched out. “What’s got you all pissy?” He asks, moving to sneak closer to her, wary of her movements.

She seems to get the hint that Donghun is here to end the chaos, so she stills just long enough that he can pick her up. Donghun investigates all her paws just as a precaution, saving the obvious troublemaker to the end. His investigation reveals a piece of wadded up tape stuck to the bottom of her paw. Ah. Yeah that would do it.

Now that he thinks about it, Junhee was opening a new roll of tape this morning after he tore one of his new notebooks. He must’ve missed the trash when trying to throw this piece away.

Latte is not pleased with getting her paw touched, but he tries his best to relay to her that he is doing this for her own good. He carefully unsticks it from her paw, placing it next to him before releasing her. She inspects her paw (or at least it seems like she does to him) before letting herself be put down so she can hop onto Junhee’s bed and sniff around. All he can do is huff a bit of laughter at the total switch in reactions. 

“Not even a thank you.” He sniffs dramatically, grabbing the wad of tape and getting up to go toss it in the nearest trash can. At least he can say that a crisis was averted. It also gives him a chance to carefully put everything back on the bed. He can almost imagine Latte tearing through the apartment all because of a piece of tape.

He hums, plopping the headphones that had been launched off the bed back on it. Then he decides to just be nice and fix up the bed as a whole. Latte seems displeased that her potential nap area is getting interrupted, so she hops off the bed to escape his chaos. 

There’s just something therapeutic about fluffing up pillows. 

By the time he turns around, he sees that Latte has comfortably sprawled herself out on his bed. That’s inconvenient, seeing how he was planning to nap. It ends up being a careful set of movements so he can lay down on his own bed without interrupting the cat. She’s taken to grooming herself, much to his dismay. All he wants to do is nap, it shouldn’t be this difficult to nap.

Thankfully Latte seems to get the hint and at least moves over a bit. He has to stop for a moment and wonder where he went wrong in life to feel relieved over the concept of a cat learning about personal space. She probably isn’t even aware of what he wants, she just probably found a more convenient spot. This is all Junhee’s fault. He made him fall in love with a cat. He made him do a lot of things that he wasn’t quite expecting to do.

Like feel giddy whenever he’s around or want to hug him until he smiles. Cook dinner and actually feel excited about it - hold decently stupid conversations that can turn profound. Just. Junhee makes him do a lot. Makes him feel a lot. 

And he’s still processing it. Well. That’s a lie. He’s processed it, now he just needs to accept it. And that’s just a whole other process that he’s not ready for.

At some point he must fall asleep. It’s one of those strange naps, though. The ones where his eyes only close for a split second but when he opens them up again a whole hour has passed. In this case, though, it’s been two. He mainly wakes up because of his phone blaring, so he fumbles around trying to find it. 

Ah. Somehow the sound for texts must’ve turned on while he was asleep. 

**(1:57 PM) Junhee~:**  
_Dropped by and saw that you were asleep, have to head to my next final....x_x. Be back at...idk? I’m allowed to leave whenever I’m done._

Donghun would’ve figured that he’d wake up if anyone was making noise in the apartment. Turns out that he was wrong, though. Whoops. He has to read the message a few more times for it to properly sink in, mind struggling to wake up completely. Man, that nap fucked him up. 

**(2:00 PM) Donghun:**  
_Alright! <3 How about when you get home, we just don’t bring up finals for a few hours? I feel like you deserve to forget about them for a little while. We’ll just eat ice cream for dinner - I’ll even go buy some. _

**(2:03 PM) Junhee~:**  
_! ! Okay ! Sounds good to me hehehe. I’ll pay you back for whatever ice cream you buy and NO you can’t talk me out of not paying this time!_

Well that’s good, because he’ll actually need money afterwards.

He chuckles to himself, staring down at the message before sending a few emojis the other’s way. Again, they’re the only ones that he knows and understands and judging by how Junhee responds with a singular “:3”, he’ll assume that he said at least something good. 

Donghun supposes that he can run down to the closest market to pick some ice cream up. This can be their thing. The way to kick off the near end of finals. Junhee just has his script analysis class tomorrow and Donghun has..well. He just has to go turn some papers in. None of his classes are requiring that he stays. 

This can definitely be the start of their celebrations. Maybe it could even become a tradition. Sure _he_ is graduating, but Junhee isn’t. And he’s still stubbornly planning on visiting the campus after he’s graduating. He has to - for Byeongkwan, Junhee and Yuchan. What kind of friend would he be if he just let them go and moved on? A bad one.

He grunts, rolling himself out of bed and stretching. Donghun checks the charge on his phone, deems that it’s enough in case someone needs him, and heads out to the living room to grab his keys. 

It’s not hard for him to get on the road, his mind on one track. Get ice cream, eat ice cream with Junhee, forget about finals week.

Eat ice cream, make Junhee happy, see him smile, feel relieved. Very simple to complete. It’s a point A to point B concept. 

He drives to the store with a little tune in his head, some dumb but catchy song that Junhee has been setting as his alarm sound lately. Apparently it’s catchy enough to wake him up in a good mood but annoying enough to make him want to turn it off quickly. He’s just decided that he’ll never fully understand Junhee.

Then as he’s parking he decides that the ice cream will be a good apology for having his voice crack during their final. Of course he can already guess Junhee’s response, but he wants to actually apologize. And in that case the easiest thing to do is pass off the most unhealthy ice cream flavor and ask for the forgiveness he knows he already has. He just has to do it so his brain stops being an asshole.

One issue he faces is that he genuinely doesn’t know what flavor of ice cream that Junhee likes. Standing in the freezer aisle, trapped in the ice cream section, leads him to have many questions and few answers. Junhee won’t answer his phone during a final and he doesn’t want to sit around and wait.

Could he use this as an excuse to call his mom? Absolutely. Is he going to do that? Of course. So he fishes his phone out of his pocket and goes to the contacts to find his mom. He calls her, pressing the phone against his ear with his shoulder as it rings. There’s way too many flavors here - it’s borderline ridiculous. Then again it’s starting to feel like his whole life is a bit ridiculous, so this should probably be absolutely normal now.

Doesn’t mean he has to approve of it.

One ring. Two rings. Then the click of a line connecting.

“Good afternoon, sweetheart!” His mother coos nearly immediately. “How are things going?”

“Good!” He replies cheerily, smiling. “I have a question.”

“Hm?”

“What kind of ice cream do you get for a person when you don’t know what kind they like?” He asks, staring at all the options. He almost feels like he’s trying to shop for a birthday present.

The laugh he hears is pretty much worth the call. Mom has always loved the out of nowhere questions. This definitely was a good excuse to call her. She giggles to herself for a few more seconds, clearing her throat.

“How about standard vanilla?” She asks.

“I don’t know. Maybe? But then I feel like I would need to buy extra toppings just in case it was too plain for him.”  
He explains, furrowing his brows at the prices. Why are some of these so _expensive_?

“Who are you buying it for?”

“Junhee. My roommate.”

“Ah!” She cheers, perking up. “You’ve befriended him!”

“I have. Have I not told you that?” He asks with an indignant snort. “He’s not that bad. A bit odd sometimes but..he’s endearing.”

“Aww.”

“Mom.” He prompts. “Ice cream.”

“Right.” She chuckles, humming over the line. “Have you considered neapolitan ice cream? It’s basically three flavors in one.”

“Oh. I forgot that kind even existed.” He says, scanning the rows before making a clicking noise with his tongue. He opens the freezer, taking out a tub of neapolitan and grinning at it. “We could share a big tub instead of buying separate flavors.”

“I can’t believe my son is going to have an updated version of the Lady and The Tramp scene with ice cream -“ She starts, voice bubbling with laughter.

“ _Mom_!” He nearly squawks. “No! How would that even - no!”

There’s a chaotic bit of laughter on the other end. If only she could see the grimace he’s sending towards his screen. Of course he is thankful that she’s able to comfortably pull these jokes - not every family is like this. When he came out to her and dad in high school they took him out to dinner to his favorite place and just let him talk. They had questions, sure, it was what he expected. He even saw his parents reading articles and blogs about lgbt stuff for a few weeks afterwards. It was - it was cute. 

So while he may be cringing at what his mom said, she does support him. It was evident when she consoled the drawn out college break up and it was evident when he rambled off his first ever high school crush.

“So easy to tease.” She says, voice wavering from her laughter. “Do you like him, Donghun? Usually you don’t get that flustered.”

“Well mom you just insinuated -“

“I know what Lady and The Tramp entails, buddy.” She scoffs. “But if I had made that joke involving Sehyoon would you have reacted that quickly?”

“Probably?”

“You sound unsure.”

Ugh. Parents.

Always figuring shit out before him.

“He’s cute.” He finally says, walking down the aisle. “Not snobby despite being from a rich family. He can go from ‘dressing to impress’ to ‘I don’t know the concept of pants and am not willing to learn’ in a blink of an eye.”

“Oh?” She says. “Famous parents?”

He thinks back to it all, the court case and what he knows.

“Infamous.” He starts. “The family that tried to go to court against each other.”

“Ouch.” She hisses. “Heard about that case, think both sides were a little dramatic.”

“Do you know anything about it?” He asks. “Anything you can legally tell me, anyway?”

“I can’t talk about the case.” She says as he turns to enter a different food aisle. “But I know that their oldest started it after..god. I want to say after a party? I don’t know what exactly happened. Just that a party was the start of it.”

Hm.

It could be worth talking to him about if he brings it up.

“But I’m happy you’re getting along.” She continues, sighing. “If his family is..that one, he deserves everything good in the world. Even if they necessarily weren’t the worst people in the world, I doubt that they let their kids live to their full interest and potential, y'know?”

“Yeah.” He responds grimly. “He didn’t know that doing dishes went faster with two people.”

She clicks her tongue at that.

“And his cat?”

“The cutest piece of fluff I’ve ever seen.”

“Figures.” She snorts. “You’ve always loved animals.”

“Yeah.” He sighs. “I have.”

“You’re whipped.”

“I’m not whipped just because I find his cat cute. Or him cute.” He starts, huffing. “I just. Want to give him a lot that he didn’t get to experience. He’s stressed because of finals.”

“Hence the ice cream.” She deadpans.

“Ice cream dinners are always a perfect remedy!”

She sighs, clicking her tongue yet again. He already has an idea of what she’s going to say and for once he isn’t completely against it. Which is..new. Well not new. But he hasn’t seen her lately.

“I should come down during your break. Maybe with a care package of food? Plus I want to cook a good family meal for all of you. Byeongkwan and Sehyoon included.” She hums.

“And Yuchan.”

“Who?”

“A new friend of mine.” He says. It’d actually be nice to get all of them together for a meal. “Could dad make those caramel tarts maybe? If you do come down?”

“I’m sure he could.” She says. “I mainly want to come down to meet this precious Junhee.”

“Mom.”

“What? I have to make sure that he’s a good guy for you!” She states dramatically.

He scoffs playfully, wrinkling his nose. She treats it like he’s already planning to date him. Which he - which he may have dreamed of a few times but that’s besides the point. Very besides the point. Instead he wants nothing more to hang up and regret his decisions.

His mom would like Junhee, though. His dad would probably try to teach him about law. Junhee got confused about those cups with the liquids between the glass, he doubts that he’ll understand law.

It’s the thought that counts.

Donghun heaves a quiet sigh away from the phone speaker.

“I need to let you go, mom.” He starts. “Please call if you do decide to come down.”

“Of course dear.” She says pleasantly. “I’d have to anyways - I don’t know where you live on campus anymore.”

He chuckles, struggling for a moment to adjust his grip on the ice cream.

“Have a good night with Junhee.” And then she’s hanging up before he can even respond. It’s honestly a little unfair. Not that the goodbye was any worse than the Lady and The Tramp comparison.

How was she even trying to relate the two anyway? He had ice cream and talking dogs had spaghetti. She gets creativity and cringe points but she _seriously_ needs to watch other movies. There’s surely an ice cream sharing scene in some movie that is not about talking dogs. Not that he’d ever want her to find it.

He huffs and pockets his phone before changing the ice cream to his other hand. It’s best that he gets this home before it melts on him. Refrozen ice cream is decent at best and bathroom trip inducing at worst.

And no one actively enjoys _either_ of those scenarios during finals. 

So he hauls the gallon of ice cream to the check out without looking at anything else. He does pick up a few candy bars while he waits in line, though. Some for him and some for Junhee.

He can worry about dieting later.

Once he pays for all his junk food he’s speed walking back to his car. There’s no need to be here any longer than he should - plus he’s going to liven up their apartment for Junhee.

It’s the nice thing to do.

His drive back is preoccupied partially by his mom’s dumb joke and mostly by how he can make their apartment look cool. They have one candle. That can go somewhere. Maybe he can swing by Sehyoon and Byeongkwan’s dorm to steal a few blankets. There’s got to be some good Netflix movie they could watch.

A movie night with ice cream. And a cat that’ll probably try and get ice cream.

He does swing by Sehyoon and Byeongkwan’s dorm and pretty much barges in. They owe him enough favors that all it takes is some wrestling with Sehyoon over opening the front door. Which happens every damn time he comes over.

Their room smells like someone dropped cologne and let it sit. 

He grabs up blankets with minimal whining and makes it quick that way he can get back to his apartment before the ice cream melts. He makes sure not to mention that to Sehyoon, though, but he gets a knowing look all the same.

He’s starting to get used to it.

He exits while spewing thank yous and carrying blankets. There’s a ninety percent chance that one of these was originally his. 

Donghun drives across campus contently. The ice cream is buckled in like a treasured item.

The apartment is blissfully quiet as he walks in. It’s only three thirty so reasonably he should be okay. Reasonably.

He chucks the ice cream into the freezer compartment and gets to work. Latte ends up not being a big help at all, having decided to claim the blankets for herself. For now she’s allowed to believe that he brought them home for her, but she’ll be kicked off when Junhee gets home.

The candle ultimately doesn’t get used as he has several fears of something getting caught ablaze. He does adjust the temperature in the apartment, allowing prime blanket weather. Netflix gets set up after some struggling.

He also plucks Latte off the blankets before she falls asleep. She meows at the disturbance and he just pets her in his arms.

“This is to make Junhee happy after a stressful day, you little demon.” He chides, scratching under her chin at an awkward angle. “Let me be nice to him for a bit.”

She doesn’t respond because why would she? Still he huffs out a breath, dipping his head to kiss between her ears.

“Did you know that I like Junhee very much?” He asks her lightly. “All I’ve wanted to do lately is make him happy. Do you think tonight will make him happy?”

A small ear flick.

“That’s not an answer but thank you anyways.” He says, scrunching his nose. “He probably really loves having someone who can answer him.”

He hates that this habit has rubbed off on him. Donghun scoffs quietly and moves to place Latte on the ground, watching in dismay as she immediately went back to the blankets.

She wins this round.

It’d be nice if he had wine to go with the ice cream. He should’ve checked that out.

Does Junhee even drink wine? Probably, right? He seems like a wine guy. Well. The set up he has serves its purpose.

Now he just...waits.

So he settles himself down at their dining table, fondly snorting at the wobble of it. He’d put the candle there but it serves no purpose since it’ll be behind them the whole time. Plus it might make a romantic atmosphere which he -

Just -

Yeah. 

No candle.

He scrolls through Netflix until he hears the door click open. Then he’s nudging Latte off of the blanket and removing any remaining cat hair. She seems more interested in going to greet Junhee anyway, so he’s saved from feeling guilty.

He casts a glance over the back of the couch towards the front door. Then Junhee is popping into frame. Junhee, at the very least, looks much happier.

The other looks at him and then at the pile of blankets.

“We’re gonna watch shitty Netflix movies while laying under blankets and eating ice cream.” Donghun sums up briefly before blinking a few times. “Unless you don’t want to.”

There’s a small pause as Junhee seems to register everything.

“That sounds..” He trails off before quirking his lips into a smile. “That sounds like exactly what I need.”

“Go get into your pajamas, then. We’re making this an all night thing.”

Junhee just chuckles brightly, nodding his head before bending down to hoist up Latte and carry her off with him. Donghun just sighs happily and leans further into the back of the couch - he had already put his pajamas on in between setting everything up.

Pajama nights will always be a special thing to him. He’s done it since high school.

His roommate practically comes soaring in after a few minutes, connecting with the couch cushions with a loud thud. Though he doesn’t seem actually hurt so Donghun just rolls his eyes and motions him over to close the space between them. 

Junhee happily obliges by dragging a blanket closer with him. 

“How dumb of a movie do you want to watch? I was thinking we can just watch one and unwind and then eat ice cream during the second one.”

Junhee makes a soft noise, comfortably tossing his legs onto Donghun’s lap. He chuckles, patting and massaging Junhee’s calf. The other giggles, fidgeting around.

“Can we watch..” Junhee pauses, tossing the blanket over them and smoothing it out. “The Emoji Movie?”

“I...Junhee no.” He says, flicking his gaze to the television. 

“Junhee yes.”

“Junhee..Junhee yes.” He repeats, sighing in defeat despite not even truly trying to argue against the idea. “Emoji Movie it is.”

Junhee’s smile is way too bright for the hell he has decided to put them through. But the happiness is worth having to deal with _literal talking emojis_.

It’s also good that they decide not to eat while watching this - mainly because they are too invested in shit talking this movie. The ice cream would’ve melted if they had it out at this point.

Junhee positively dies at the Candy Crush app scene, mainly because he thinks it’s so stupid that he can’t deal with it. That in turn makes Donghun laugh and overall he can say that the movie is only enjoyable with Junhee’s off-kilter comedy. 

Once the credits start to roll and the room darkens from the lack of light filtering in through the window, he gets up to get ice cream and spoons. Junhee has further snuggled up into the blanket, peering at him over the back of the couch. 

“I’ll feed Latte after the next movie.” Junhee calls out lightly.

“Are you sure? I can do it while I’m here in the kitchen.”

“...Would you?” 

“Of course.” Donghun chuckles. “Go look out the window and see if the sun is completely set yet. If it is we can turn on the lights.”

“Nah, I’d like it to stay dark.”

“Oh?”

“It's nice, y’know?” Junhee says loftily, voice floating in from the living room. “Laying around in the dark with someone else.”

Donghun just snorts. He certainly doesn't want to think too deeply about that. 

“I think you and I have very different definitions of nice, Junhee.” He says, pulling out Latte’s food to serve it up. It actually disgusts him to think of carrying the ice cream in one hand and the cat food in the other. So he decides to get that out of the way first.

Hypothetically it also gets Latte out of the way too. Because she’s a menace that would stick her head in the ice cream tub. He makes sure to serve her first before going and scrubbing his hands clean. Then he’s fishing around for two spoons, plucking them out of the drawer and going to pull the ice cream out of the freezer portion of their fridge. 

By the time he gets back to the couch, Junhee is surfing through all the movies with a wrinkled nose.

“I don’t know any of these ones.”

Donghun hums, swapping the ice cream and spoons with the remote in the other’s hand. He notes, rather fondly, that Junhee has not seemingly moved from his position. Lazy.

“Lucky for you, I’m a sucker for shitty rom-coms.” Donghun replies breezily, nudging at the other’s legs so he could sit down. 

He ends up clicking on one that he’s seen countless times - mainly when he was going through his post break up phase and just wanted to mope. Now he’s watching it to pick fun at the ridiculous plot. He hums, moving to pop open the lid to the ice cream, wrestling a spoon out of Junhee’s grip while the other giggles over it.

Junhee doesn’t dig in right away, seemingly immersed in the movie. Once the cheesy musical number starts within the first twenty minutes, though, he starts eating more out of second hand embarrassment.

Donghun just laughs at this, taking joy in watching Junhee struggle to scoop ice cream out of the tub. He may or may not make fun of him a few times, but that’s okay because Junhee laughs his ass off when he accidentally flicks ice cream onto the blanket.

Amidst the occasional clinking of spoons, the reminder that this is a terrible dinner choice and the return of Latte who seems more interested in the blanket than the food - Donghun realizes that this is his new ideal life. Freshman him wanted..wanted fancy, meaningful things. Probably would’ve laughed at this scenario unfolding. He still laughs in his head about it - but it’s more so a laugh of ‘how did I think this was lame’.

The movie is even better to watch when he’s not all sad and mopey. Especially when Junhee confirms his beliefs that the actress is the only one putting 100% effort into her role.

They don’t talk about today. He doesn’t talk about his conversation with his mom other than that she might come down. Junhee comments that he would like to meet his mother - something about seeing if she's just as sarcastic as he can be. It's easy to tell him that she is, that she's where he got his sarcasm from. But Junhee just giggles and insists that he must meet her to form his own opinion on the matter.

Overall he's enjoying himself. Right now he’s somewhat disgruntled to confirm his suspicions that he might be somewhat into Junhee. Somewhat. He knows that it’s been there deep down for awhile. But now it’s at the forefront of his mind as he watches Junhee stare at the movie with a critical eye and a bright smile.

It’s a weird thing to realize you might like someone when they have a spoon dangling from their mouth - but he digresses. It's not really surprising. He sees Junhee when he's well put together every day and it hasn't struck him as much as seeing the other wince at the cold ice cream on the spoon but refuse to remove it because he's _lazy_.

He does end up apologizing, yet again, for his voice cracking during their piece. Junhee just snorts and shoves him lightly.

“If you’ve been worrying about that all week, I’ll hold you down and shake you senseless.” 

“You’re not strong enough to do that.”

He’ll give Junhee credit by saying that he tried. But rough housing is, quite noticeably, not Junhee's strong suit.

The movie ends. The ice cream is put away. A new movie begins as soon as they’re comfortably on the couch.

It’s completely dark now, save for the television screen and -

Junhee has his head in his lap.

That’s fine; that’s cool. Cool cool cool. The others eyes are half shut, breath slow and even. His hair feathers across his face like some god damn angel. 

Donghun feels his mouth go dry as he tentatively raises a hand to gently brush the hair out of his face. It’s so - so soft. So Junhee. 

Now Donghun has always been good at keeping his impulses internalized. But with his own half asleep state, the shitty rom-com and the obscene amount of ice cream, he feels like he is about to hurtle himself off the damn couch.

Instead he strokes through Junhee’s hair, admiring the way the younger sinks into the touch.

His impulsive side supposed this is as good as ever. He’s too jittery to talk himself out of it.

“Hey Junhee?”

“Mm?”

“I want to start this by saying that I’m thankful that you exist.” He says, twirling some of Junhee’s hair in between two fingers. “And that you just. You light up the whole damn world.”

Junhee chuckles, offhandedly mentioning that the sugar must be getting to his brain. Perhaps it is. Perhaps he's just finally spilling everything he wants to say. Who knows.

“And I can ramble on and on about just - you. But.” He pauses, clearing his throat. “The school has a Hot Chocolate night on Saturday as a way to de-stress. Would you...would you like to go?”

It’s the closest he’ll ever get to asking someone out without _really_ asking someone out. Because this is just going to be for him to test the waters to see if -

Maybe -

Maybe he’s ready to date again. Maybe he’s ready to admit that Junhee is somewhat his ideal type. Maybe if the stars align in every universe imaginable, he’ll be ready to feel comfortable calling someone his boyfriend again.

Junhee exhales softly, turning just enough to look up at him from his lap.

“That sounds nice, Donghun.” He says gently, sleepily, and Donghun doesn’t like that he can hear his own heartbeat. “I’d love to.”

He’d love to.

That’s not to be mistaken with ‘he loves you’ or even ‘he likes you’ but -

He’d love to.

Love to leave the house with him. When he could be bumming around after finals.

He repeats to himself that this is not for him to confess, or to gauge if Junhee has mutual feelings or is just being a clingy college roommate. He’s not here to make the situation _weird_. He forces himself to nod with a smile, pushing the hair away from his forehead after he shifts back to watch the movie again.

Junhee ends up dozing off on his lap, Latte nestled in the crook of his legs. Donghun looks over at her and smiles, notes all the progress that he has made towards being...less bitter. Latte just purrs on into the night.

The movie ends. He stays there with Junhee on his lap, carefully carding fingers through his hair and adjusting the blanket to simulate tucking Junhee in. He ends up starting season one of Chef's Table. Junhee stirs just slightly and Donghun gently shifts his head further up his thigh. Wouldn't want the guy sleeping on his knee cap or anything, it's far too bony.

He takes a breath, exhaling slowly. 

Feelings are always hard to accept. But right now, as these chefs drone on and Junhee fidgets and Latte purrs - 

He'll think about everything.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack  
> I'm a bit rusty with college au since I'm working on other things but :]
> 
> Updates:  
> \- Shout out to Charmi for being my hype squad when writing!!! [Read Welcome Home for clear skin Charmi's writing is AMAZING]  
> \- I can arguably see this fic last until..hm...I think it's end will be coming a bit after December, we'll have to see how plot progression works.  
> \- Vamps has a tentative (but highly likely) release date set :] I'll finally get to post it i'm so excited  
> \- I'll go over and re-read this again in the morning to see if I missed any glaring errors,  
> \- Thank you for being patient with me, writing for Heartbeats tends to drain me sometimes <3
> 
> As always, enjoy!

Saturday.

It’s Saturday.

Finals ended and Junhee slept in until noon today, only to take off at one to go to his yoga class. Which is something that Donghun didn’t even know he had.

But he was bright eyed as he walked out the door, so Donghun assumes he’s in a better mood compared to how he was Thursday.

Donghun himself is buzzing with dull excitement at the thought of tonight. Hot Chocolate and snacks and stars and the chill of the evening -

It could be romantic. It could be extremely romantic. Of course, he’s not trying to make this romantic unless it ends up that way. This is so they both unwind after their classes. It’s why he purposely did not invite the others. Just him and Junhee and any other wild shit that happens during it.

He has at length asked everyone else if he should be considering this a date. Sehyoon says no, because they’re not actively planning a date. Byeongkwan says it’s an impromptu date. Yuchan said that it’s up to him to decide. Which, while true, is not the answer he was looking for.

But he thinks that he’d consider it just a friendly hang out.

Donghun thinks that it’s just something between friends. If he goes in expecting something different, he’ll just be disappointed. Or even worse he’ll try to make things happen when they shouldn’t. He stretches out on his bed, looking at the time on his phone.

Three in the afternoon.

Latte is off bumbling about - he can hear her going to town on the cat scratching pad that he had bought. At least she’s using that versus tearing anything up, but the sound is still somewhat annoying.

“Must you do that now, little monster?” He asks, spying how she’s nudged it between Junhee’s bed and the wall. “Are you proud of the things you’re doing?”

She does not answer him, more-so stares at him with an acute glare as if he had interrupted her. It’s a bit childish, but he sticks his tongue out at her. Not like she knows what it means or that it’s supposed to be taken spitefully. Latte turns, padding up to his bed and wiggling like a little worm before launching herself up, scrambling to climb over his outstretched leg.

It’s endearing, observing this living ball of fluff. He clicks his tongue, putting his phone off to the side in order to grab Latte and snuggle her. She meows a few times, batting at his arms as some show of affection. Or retaliation. He still doesn’t quite know how much she likes him.

Enough to get pet and enough to crawl up and take over half the space of his bed, he supposes. Which is more than he ever expected. So he hums, scratches under her chin idly as he gets comfortable on his back. She takes this as a sign to crawl up onto his stomach, flopping down lazily.

Spoiled.

Yet he still lets her do it.

“Do you think Junhee will like the hot chocolate tonight?” He asks out loud. “Or is he just saying that he likes it so he doesn’t ruin the plans?”

A pause, a laugh.

“No. He definitely likes hot chocolate, I’m just paranoid.” Donghun ascents. “I’m just paranoid. I want him to have a good time. I want him to enjoy his time in this school. I want him to enjoy time with me.”

God he swears he’s having his high school crush feelings all over again. It’s dumb. 

“I like to think that after I graduate I can properly take him somewhere cool.” He continues, scratching behind her ears. “Just the two of us, driving to an amusement park or something -“

Something in his head clicks. They needed something to do during the break. Byeongkwan works at a theme park that’s relatively close by.

If they could secure just a few days worth of stay at the amusement park hotel...

That’s something to pester Byeongkwan about later. It’s not like they can’t afford it or anything. Plus it’s close by - but there’s something fun about staying in a themed hotel. He doubts that Junhee’s gotten to enjoy that luxury - because there’s a difference between enjoying where you’re sleeping and simply acknowledging that you’re sleeping somewhere.

Maybe they could plan it for the end of break. A final hurrah to boost them into getting through the next semester. He’d appreciate that. The others would appreciate it.

But he’s getting ahead of himself. He’ll text the group chat about it later, get a feel for it.

Latte does not seem to appreciate his lack of affection, getting up with a disinterested yawn and throwing herself off the bed. She scrambles against the hard wood for a moment, trying to get her grip before walking off with her head held high.

He doesn’t know why but he waves goodbye as if she cares about the nuance of it. She disappears out into the hallway, slipping away from his view.

Donghun hums and glances around the room, surveys the layout and notices how empty Junhee’s space still looks. Sure there’s a few books skewed here and there, but it’s nothing compared to the few (small) movie posters that Donghun has hung up on his side. Would it be too late in the year to take the other out shopping?

Maybe Junhee just wants it like that. It’s not like there’s much room to begin with - it doesn’t look cluttered the way he has his side set up.

Everything is very neat. It probably is set up the same way his room at home was. It doesn’t seem like he was really allowed to express himself.

That just makes him want to shake Junhee by the shoulders, give him his credit card, and let him go wild in a store. His side would end up ugly, yes. It would probably spill over into his half of the room. But he wouldn’t be mad about it. Not really.

He’s all about that chaotic minimalism these days.

To curb his boredom he starts to read through one of Junhee’s reading assignments - one that was apparently graded early into the semester and just returned to him at the end of finals week. Junhee had been lamenting about the grading scale earlier and had left it with Donghun to form his own opinion 'if he wants to'. And he has. His opinion is that he has some comments about the teachers feedback, finds a few things to be incredibly nit picky. 

Now he might not have the best opinion about Shakespeare’s works, but this one is borderline tolerable in every sense. He flip back to the cover scans over ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ in scrawled cursive and then looks back to the paragraph on page five. He’s reread it about six times and he’s honestly impressed that Junhee’s annotation on it is as long as it is. He reads his annotation, rereads the paragraph and scrunches his face in vague understanding.

Maybe this is a theater major thing. Being able to understand Shakespeare. Which in his humble opinion should be considered a talent all on its own.

Despite that, he continues reading. The plot is considerably better than a few of the other works he’s read by the late and great author, but that doesn’t really say much when his opinions on Romeo and Juliet could probably start a battle against hopeless romantics. Part of it is fun seeing Junhee’s take on the perspective - his vaguely untidy writing dotting the margins here and there. Some of them simply consist of question marks and nothing else. 

It’s unclear how much time he’s put into this mess of words until he hears a door swing open and shut in the apartment, the faint sound of Latte throttling off some high surface only recognized by the dull thud that follows. There’s a wavering, high pitched bark of laughter that follows.

Ah. He’s home.

Donghun attempts to look casual - which is somehow hard with a copy of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ on his lap. The words may be stressful but, well, now he’s determined to at least try and finish the whole thing. It takes some time before Junhee walks into their room, a fussy Latte in his grasp. She looks a bit befuddled, perhaps she got picked up right before she managed her great escape.

“Hello.” Junhee greets. “We have a little demon.”

“Oh?”

“She was climbing up the shelves by the television and getting dangerously close to knocking some of your stuff over.” He says with pursed lips, moving to plop the cat onto his bed. “But don’t worry, she didn’t actually knock anything over.”

Donghun feels himself release a breath. Not like he really had anything super expensive on the shelf - he had moved anything deemed ‘expensive’ as soon as he first witnessed Latte finesse her way up to the very top portion. He just shrugs as an answer as he struggles to find words.

“She is a very naughty kitty, hm?” He finally settles on, chuckling at the way Junhee nods in agreement. “But we love her anyways.”

Junhee shoots him a glance that conveys the same amusement that he feels.

“Yes we do.” He agrees again. For the first time he seems to be actively gazing at Donghun. Then he furrows his brows. “Is that -“ He starts before cutting himself off, pointing down at his lap. 

He makes a small noise of confusion at the other before glancing down himself. Ah. Right.

“Yeah.” A soft breath, as if nervous at the thought that Junhee might be upset about it. “I needed to entertain myself and - well. You brought this home Friday. I was curious since we never really talk about what goes on in your classes. Besides, you were very adamant about hating the grading scale.”

“Oh, they’re nothing special.”

“But you are.” He says. Then after a moment he wants to bash his head into a wall. “You are really good with expressing what you think is happening in scenes. Are all actors like that?”

The other laughs, low and quiet. After a few seconds he wrings his hands together and moves to sit on the bed next to him. Donghun looks at him expectantly. It’s perfectly reasonable to be curious about being an actor. Junhee crosses his legs, rubbing at his ankles.

“I can’t really speak for all actors - or even myself as an actor.” He mumbles. “Cause I’m not an actor. But - I’m not the best in my class. Sometimes I have my moments, though.”

“Was this assignment one of your good moments?”

“I think I peaked with that assignment and have been stagnant with the rest of them. I’m not - I’m not failing. But..”

“But?” He prompts.

“But I’m not like...a break out shining student either. They’re planning a musical next semester and I don’t even know if I want to try out. I probably should but -“ He shrugs. “There’s better people that could probably play the parts.”

He frowns and decides that he hates how resigned the other seems to be about this.

“Do you regret taking all these acting classes?”

“Kind of.” Junhee huffs. “When I was in high school I thought that I was the next big thing. But now that I’m college I am painfully mediocre and feel like I’m leagues behind all my classmates despite me working so hard to play catch up.”

Motivation time. Because he is not going to let Junhee consider himself mediocre. Not after he’s seemingly worked his ass off.

“You’re playing catch up. It’s expected that you will feel behind.” He starts, licking his lips. “I’ve never seen you act, Junhee. But I know that you’re determined. You do well in what you put your mind to.”

A shrug.

“And one day when you’ve graduated and it’s a few years down the line - your face will be on the big screen. Or a big billboard advertising some play or musical. And if that happens, you and I will go to that billboard and take a picture in front of it. We’ll flag someone down to take a picture of us even if we have to do an embarrassing angle to get the billboard in the frame. If it's a movie I'll take a selfie with the screen during your scene even if it makes the people in the theater hate me. And then I’ll tease you about how you felt mediocre and I’ll point to it and make sure you know that you made it. I'll make you autograph something.”

Junhee looks barely convinced. Donghun wishes there was a way to further prove everything to him. 

“I’ll hand deliver flowers to you backstage with a handwritten note addressed to “the most foolish person I know” when you land your first role, whatever it may be. If it’s a musical I’ll go backstage. If it’s a movie I’ll finesse my way into the sound stage. Deal?”

The other just hums, stretching his legs out so they dangle over the edge of his bed.

“Deal.” He finally says, glancing over and offering a small smile. “I want it to be in cursive, though.”

“Hm?”

“The letter on the flowers. I want it to be in cursive.”

The nerve of this guy. He loves it. Wants to bask in his ridiculous far more than he should. 

“Of course, I’ll learn cursive specifically for that.”

And at last, Junhee seems content. He looks over to his lap, plucks the book out of his hands and holds it in his own as if testing the weight of it. In a way he looks almost...fond. Then he’s flipping to the page that Donghun had marked with a dog eared fold, scoffing at it.

“This page had some of my best annotations and he completely ignored it while grading.” Junhee says, pout evident in his voice.

“All of your annotations were really good. Or - at least the ones that weren’t question marks, really.” Donghun reassures. “Trust me, they helped me understand what the hell the characters have been saying.”

The giggle he gets in return is light and airy. What he would do to make sure that Junhee was always in a situation to laugh like that.

Junhee clears his throat, smiling dumbly at the book. Then he’s handing it back to Donghun, leaning against him and sighing out. Latte is still on Junhee’s bed, seemingly putting herself in a time out to atone for whatever she nearly knocked over.

This is peaceful. This is what he’s wanted. It’s taken him awhile to even be close to admitting it, but it’s true. He’s been craving something like this. Intimacy between friends. They let themselves get lost in it - the mindless conversations that lull them closer together. Soon Donghun has his head gently leaning against Junhee’s, smiling at how the other seems to lean into the touch.

There are still a few hours until the hot chocolate event starts, but his mind is buzzing with images of seeing Junhee under string lights. Maybe he can snag a spot under the gazebo. Yeah. That’s where the prettiest lights are usually hung up.

But for now he’s more interested in listening to Junhee talk. It doesn’t matter that sometimes Junhee talks a little fast or repeats a phrase once or twice for emphasis. It’s cute. And then he gets nervous about boring Donghun and he has to let out a soft laugh and reassure him that he’s listening.

Because he is.

And he thinks that if Junhee wasn’t made for the stage, he’d be a brilliant radio host. Maybe he can get him on his show once or twice before he graduates. Maybe he could even pass the show on down to Junhee, if he wanted it.

Junhee is rambling on about something he saw while he was out, some flyer or something equivalent advertising a new bouncing playground place for kids under the age of twelve. And that reminds him.

“The group needs something to do together.” He starts when Junhee’s talking naturally dies down. “I was thinking an amusement park?”

“Oh, haven’t been to one of those in awhile.” Junhee comments, hands adjusting shirt sleeves like he was about to meet someone important. “That could be fun.”

“When was the last time you went?”

“Seven...eight? Nine at the latest.” He says with a small shrug, forcing Donghun to get comfortable all over again. “It was for this banquet thing for a cousin of mine. We got to go on rides for a bit but usually we were tucked away in one of the bigger hotel rooms since the adults didn’t want to ride the kiddie rides.”

Ah. Understandable, though. Kiddie rides suck half the time unless they have a weird concept.

“Well what I was thinking - and it’s not confirmed because I’d need to discuss it with the group - but maybe we can go to the really big indoor theme park and stay a few days.”

“The one that Byeongkwan works at?”

“Mhm. They have special secret deals for people who are friends with employees. A little discount on multiple day tickets.” Donghun explains. “And the place is big enough to justify staying multiple days.”

“Oh?” Junhee sounds curious about it, which makes him excited. 

“I’ve been there once when I first came here. Its connected to a mall but as a whole the place is huge. Three levels and its own private hotel and parking lot. The only reason it’s connected to the mall is because you can enter through it.” 

“I’ve never been to an indoor amusement park.” Junhee muses quietly. “I’d like to go.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” 

He smiles.

“I’ll text the group about it later.” He says with a nod. “Speaking of - do you want me to add you to the group chat?”

Junhee hums and plucks at a few pieces of fluff to throw off his comforter.

“You can add me but I’m not quite sure how social I’ll be. I still feel kind of awkward around them.” He murmurs and Donghun can tell that he’s over thinking it all. “I don’t want to embarrass myself.”

That doesn’t surprise him. Even he gets worried about embarrassing himself in front of them.

Still.

“You don’t have to talk.” He reassures. “It’ll just be nice to have us all in a chat together, you know?”

Junhee hums, wiggling his toes in thought. Then he nods, a soft huff leaving his lips.

“I suppose it’d be nice to be in a group chat.” He assents. 

Donghun feels way too happy about that. It feels like a personal victory as much as it does a friend oriented one. He’s never been great at convincing people. Junhee, by all accounts, is relatively easy to convince.

“I’ll add you the next time I talk in the group chat.” He comments lightly, patting his leg. “But why don’t you take a nap before we go out tonight? You look exhausted.”

“I’m always exhausted.”

“More exhausted than usual, then.” He grins, the soft huffing noise he makes somehow sounding fond. Junhee scrunches his face at that, looking over at his own bed before humming and sprawling himself out on Donghun’s instead. “Excuse me?”

“If I’m going to nap, I’m going to nap where I’m already comfortable.” Junhee hums cheekily. “And you’re too nice to kick me off the bed over it.”

He is, but that doesn’t mean he won’t try to hype himself up and do it. Still Junhee looks remarkably cozy and is already nestling his head against his pillows. It’s not like he was planning on taking a nap anyway so there’s no issue with Junhee taking up his bed. It’s just not something he expected for whatever reason.

Still he slides off the bed after Junhee seemingly finds a comfortable position. He does not miss the small, shit eating grin that Junhee sends him. But he feels like a nice adult and doesn’t tackle him. Instead he crosses over to the doorway, hand on the handle before he looks back.

“Want this closed so Latte doesn’t disturb you?”

He hears a vague yes and takes the time to go scoop Latte off of Junhee’s bed much to her displeasure. He wrangles her with one hand and shuts the door with the other. She must not appreciate it much, seeing as she decides to wriggle around like a worm. Then she was trying to reach his fingers and nibble at them until he manages to set her down. She’s fluffed up like a cotton ball, just extra angry.

Latte walks off and he goes to wash up. He dabs his hands dry with a towel as he comes to the realization that he’s going to be alone for at least two hours.

Which he can do..hm.

He could leave the apartment, he supposes. Go grab a drink (or two) and bring them back. Maybe slide Junhee’s into the fridge. It’s a solid enough plan for him, so he hunts down his keys and slips on his shoes. His wallet is a bit harder to find and he questions when and how it got tucked into the couch cushions.

He spies Latte creeping around and gives her a look as she sprawls under their dinner table, looking like a monstrous fluff ball. Which probably isn’t far off from what she actually is.

Donghun leaves and locks the door tightly behind him. The hallways are empty - in truth a portion of people may be clearing out to go spend some time with their families. Donghun has considered it briefly. But he also doesn't know if he wants to make the commute.

Hopefully his mom will actually drop by and cook for his whole friend group. They all deserve home cooked meals.

Humming, he slips his keys into his front pocket and walks aimlessly down to the elevator, pushing the button to signal that some living life form needed to get down to the lobby. The elevator remains as creepy as ever. New does not mean comfortable. But when he finally gets to the lobby he does try to hide his excitement about being off that thing.

Now is where he has to decide on something. Does he go down to the dining hall and pick at the smaller selection, seeing as the meal choices always get smaller when breaks happen, or does he actually drive out somewhere?

The deciding factor is ultimately that it’s chilly as fuck outside. Of course the winter months have started to put them in a headlock and that he should expect this kind of climate and be prepared with proper attire. But he’s also a dumbass that didn’t bring a jacket and he’s not about to go up to the apartment and get one.

So car it is for the sole purpose that he can drive. It’s a win win for him and his legs - they won't have to do excessive work by walking.

He’s whistles a cheery little tune as he goes to get in his car and starts the ignition, humming. Starbucks is probably fine, right? He doesn’t know Junhee’s order. But at this point he could probably guess and at least get something the other would drink.

Which is better than getting something he wouldn’t drink, so. Donghun pulls out and starts his relatively quiet drive. It isn’t until he’s completely off campus that he realizes that he’s left his damn phone in the apartment. The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that he has probably left it on his bed.

God damn it, Donghun. Of all things, how could he forget his phone? That’s ridiculous and, above all else, enough to make him pout at his own dumbassery. Not like he’s expecting any calls or anything but what if one of his friends genuinely needed to reach him? Or his parents called?

Well.

All the more reason to be quick. It’s not like he actually had anywhere to be. 

At some point he does drive past his work and he wonders, briefly, when he’s going to get his next shift. Maybe he should call his boss. Maybe. It’d be nice to get some money again.

He hums, tapping the steering wheel as he turns into a shopping outlet. The outlet he could care less about - but this Starbucks was the one he visited the most last year. Parking his car, he ultimately decides that he’ll get something warm for Junhee and just put it in the microwave so it doesn’t cool down and get gross.

Despite the cold weather, however, he wants a cold drink for himself. Because he hates his body and wants a reason to snuggle up in the blankets back at the apartment.

He enters with the confidence of a college kid with nothing left to lose but still ultimately stutters halfway through his order. It sucks, being this age and still panicking about having to order for himself. His mind always runs wild with things that could go wrong. It’s a very limited list but still. They’re there.

He personally orders a Passion Fruit Iced Tea. For Junhee, after much panicked deliberation, is getting a Peppermint Mocha Latte. Which sounds delicious. And he’s pretty sure that Junhee likes peppermint so he’s not too worried. In all honesty the most stressful parts of this whole adventure will be getting the drinks to the car and then getting the drinks to the apartment.

The first part of that worry is easy enough, he’s extra careful setting the drinks on the top of the car while he unlocks it. Then he’s gently sliding them into the somewhat messy cup holds in between the seats before he starts buckling himself up. After one last double check that he has everything, he’s starting the car back up and checking the fuel level. Hm. He'll need to fill up his tank at some point but he’s too lazy to get gas today.

Instead he heads back to campus with the radio station keeping him company. It hadn’t hit him until the drive back that he feels very, very lonely without a conversation partner. A very specific one at that.

Man, he hopes that Junhee is having a good nap. The poor guy still seems to be tuckered out from all the finals.

It was his first round of finals here at their school. He can’t even imagine that kind of stress - he doesn’t even remember what his freshman finals were like. Actually he’s not sure if he wants to remember them.

All things considered, he won’t be too mad if Junhee admits he’s too tired to go out tonight. He’ll understand. Because really, who wants to leave the apartment when they’re tired? Absolutely no one. It’s just not realistic.

Donghun sighs. Every time Junhee pops up into his mind he gets a dumb little giddy feeling that makes his fingers itch. It’s stupid. Part of him is still too stubborn to admit that he has a crush. He doesn’t want to completely agree to that notion, not yet.

He’s not ashamed of having a crush. He simply just doesn’t feel like he knows how to properly date someone anymore. While his gut tells him he’s fine and would be able to do it, his mind flashes through the last relationship he had. It wasn’t all bad - they had some fantastic moments together. But little things just piled up over time.

Now he worries it’ll happen all over again. He doesn’t want that. Not with Junhee. Not with anyone else, really. Of course he’s a bit older and a bit wiser but he can still be awkward about a few things.

And he and Junhee have gotten into small arguments but they’ve fixed them quickly for the sake of each other and for the sake of living together. There’s still that fear, though, that he’ll wake up one day and just ignore Junhee.

He did it once with his ex and he’s not proud of it. Donghun had been annoyed with his ex the previous night and instead of talking it how he just went about his day without trying to talk. To this day he doesn’t know if that made things better or worse between them but he’s willing to place a few bets on the latter. But he's grown from that, learned from it. He's striving to be better.

Thinking about this while waiting for a light to turn green makes him antsy. So the simply solution is to force himself to stop thinking about. Instead he thinks about how some of the ice may melt in his tea, how Junhee’s drink may get cold. How he needs to go shopping tomorrow because this morning Junhee are five slices of bacon while huddled against the counter like some looming beast.

There was something inexplicable scary about walking in on that. He wasn’t even doing anything to be threatening. All he saw was five pieces of bacon on a plate with a half a glass of orange juice and it made him really start wondering if it’s even worth asking what he’s doing. It isn’t.

He asked anyway.

And Junhee had made a comment about how it’s easier to fling five pieces of bacon into the microwave than to do anything else in the morning. He doesn’t necessarily disagree - he just thinks the whole thing looked a bit unhealthy. But Junhee said the orange juice balances it out.

So maybe it was okay.

The light turns green and he can stop thinking, instead lose himself to the nearly auto piloted return to campus. It’s easy, he’s taken these streets so many times that all he has to worry about is the odd asshole driver. But everything other than that is okay.

He pulls into the campus grounds and passes the dorms, admires the emptier parking lot that was full a few days ago. Break really does start to clear the place out.

He wonders if any of the other four are going to visit home during break. He kind of hopes they are. Yuchan seems to miss home and, well, the other two at least need to say hi to their mom and dad. In Junhee's case..he can't see him wanting to go home. Which is completely valid.

Donghun does a somewhat bad parking job when he gets to the apartment. But he’s within the lines and ultimately legal so there’s no need to try and correct it. For a few minutes he just sits in the driver's seat with the car off, taking in the silence. It’s nice to slow down a bit. Not that he’s been rushing at any point recently.

He hums, pats around for his phone before remembering for the nth time that it’s not with him. Grunting, He clambers out of the vehicle and grabs his drinks, tentatively sipping out of his as he closes his car door with his foot. It’s a whole different battle to lock it but he manages. 

Striding to the complex in front of him, he puts on his best ‘I have places to be’ face. Even though no one will see it - it’s still something he can do just in case. Just get to apartment. Nothing else.

Of course fate has different plans because the elevator is being waited on by someone else.

Someone very tall.

“Seungjun?” He asks, blinking a few times. He hadn’t seen the other since - well. It’s been a while. 

“Hm?” The other muses, tearing his gaze from his phone before making a small pleased noise. “Oh! Donghun! Hello.”

Donghun can’t help but grin up at the other.

“It’s been awhile.” Seungjun continues. “I’m just here to visit Jihun - but he’s asleep and I don’t know what floor he’s on.”

Now Jihun he has seen. He hums, wracking his brain.

“The floor above mine, I believe. So you’ll know when I get off. But as for his exact room number, I don’t know.”

The taller just hums, flashing a grin at him and nodding.

“I’m actually here to help get my share of the apartment set up. I’m moving in, yknow?”

“Oh?”

“Jihun and I are like - a thing now.” Seungjun says cheerily. “I mean we were a somewhat thing before this year but now we’re in that moving in together phase?”

Donghun nods in vague understanding.

“Congratulations.” He says as the elevator door opens up. Seungjun lets him enter first, probably because of the drinks in his hand.

“I’m assuming one of those is for your roommate?” He asks, nodding towards the cups in his hands as he maneuvers them so he can press the button to the floor he wants to go to. 

“Yep.”

“Who is your roommate?”

Hm. Is it worth mentioning? It’d be rude not to right?

“Park Junhee.”

“The Park Junhee? Like, the really rich one -“

“Yeah.” Donghun snorts. ‘The really rich one’..how cute. “He’s dumb.”

“I don’t know how you’re surviving that man, I hear his whole family has a lot of bad attitude. Some of the campus whispers about it too.”

“Well you can tell those that are whispering that he’s a simple guy that wants nothing more than to be treated normally.” He tries not to sound too biting in his tone, but he doesn’t like the idea of Junhee being whispered about.

Seungjun just hums thoughtfully, amused.

“Seems like you’re rather partial to him. You guys close?”

“We’re roommates, of course we are.”

“Just because you’re roommates doesn’t mean you’ll be close.” Seungjun chuckles. “But it’s good that you’ve made friends with him.”

Mm. He supposes it is. The door opens on his floor and he clears his throat, stepping out.

“Have a good day with Jihun.” He says over his shoulder, sparing a small glance to the other.

“Same to you with Junhee. Maybe you should let me meet him one day.” Seungjun grins. Then the doors are shutting and Donghun is once again left alone in the hallway, one hand cold and another warm. 

Biting at his lips, he walks down to their room and wrestles with the door for a minute. He ends up having to put his drink down to have a free hand that can actually properly unlock and crack open the door. Nudging the door open with his foot, he plucks his drink off the ground and heads inside. He makes sure to shut it as quietly as he could be he really didn’t want to startle Latte or - even worse - wake Junhee if he wasn’t already up.

After kicking off his shoes and dropping his keys onto the couch, he goes to put Junhee’s drink in the microwave, praying the insulation will keep it warm. It could always be reheated in a mug he supposes. But that sounds vaguely nasty.

Yet he doesn’t ponder that for long. Instead he turns while sipping on his drink while wondering what he could do right now. Ah. Phone.

Drinking idly and scrunching his nose at the sweet flavor, he sets his drink down and starts down the hallway. Latte is spread out in front of the door as if she’s been waiting for him to come open it for her. 

Latte looks up at him when he approaches as if she’s gauging whether he’s worthy or not. She must decide that he is seeing that she gets up to wander just slightly out of the way. It’s not ideal because he doesn’t want her in there to begin with. Carefully he opens the door, leaving enough of a gap for him to quickly slide through before quietly shutting it.

He always forgets how silent their bedroom can be. Usually there’s at least some music playing or some sort of nature noise loop. Junhee is tucked up into his bed, facing the wall with his head buried into the pillow. 

Donghun’s main fear is startling the other awake. It takes a lot of courage to continue the search for his phone, gently rummaging through the sheets around the younger in attempt to find it. Then he glances over at the pillow, then at Junhee, and frowns.

Trying his best to remain as non-intrusive as possible, he creeps his hand under the corner of the pillow. He feels the cold metal paneling of his phone case and hooks his fingers around it to pull the phone out. Success. Junhee shifts a bit, stretching his legs out a little further than he previously had them. Donghun takes this as a sign to leave.

Quickly he sneaks back out, shutting the door painfully slow to keep it quiet. He fist pumps out of victory, unlocking his phone with his free hand. No messages, no emergency calls. Normally that would bum him out but right now he’s extremely thankful about it.

He hums, shooting out a message to the group chat.

**(4:11 PM) Donghun:**  
_Hey losers can we add Junhee to the chat? He’s asleep right now and in general probably wouldn’t talk much but it’d be nice to include him._

**(4:13 PM) Yuchan:**  
_!!!!! :DDDD_

**(4:13 PM) Donghun:**  
_So...is that a yes?_

No more than thirty seconds later he decides to say ‘fuck it’ and adds Junhee in, grinning.

**(4:14 PM) Donghun:**  
_You all better be kind when he does talk or I’ll kick your shins._

**(4:15 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_cute..._

This group chat is always a mistake to wake up. Always. He glowers at the text, huffing quietly.

**(4:18PM) Donghun:**  
_ANYWAYS. Plans for the break? I have a group idea but I need opinions on it._

**(4:19 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_besides video calling my parents, I don’t have anything planned. what’s your idea?_

**(4:20 PM) Yuchan:**  
_My Mom and dad are barging in for the first half of this upcoming week <33 But after that I don’t have much going on._

**(4:20 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_immmmmm just Existing and working rn. nothing else...whatchu have in mind_

**(4:21 PM) Donghun:**  
_Actually it kind of pertains to your work. I was thinking we could spend a few nights off campus in that ritzy hotel that’s connected to the indoor amusement park. Kind of take our time to go through the park and stuff..nothing more than three days or so, though._

He sends the message out as he flops onto the couch after taking a detour to grab his drink again. Resting his phone on his chest, he sips the watered down drink in an uncomfortable position. The hot chocolate event is starting in three hours. Junhee will probably be awake soon. He’s trying to feel very adult like but if anything he just wants to take a nap.

**(4:24 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_holy shit donghun with a good idea....the intellectual jumped out :P_

**(4:24 PM)Sehyoon:**  
_that could definitely be fun...what days?_

**(4:24 PM) Yuchan:**  
_!!! That could be fun!!! It’s just the matter of who would room with who and what days we could go owo.._

**(4:26 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_just fyi there are some hotel rooms on the sixth, eighth and tenth floor that have multiple bedrooms :) we could all just pitch in for one of those depending on the date._

**(4:27 PM) Donghun:**  
_That’s the smart thing to do..and I was thinking maybe near the end of our break? Junhee needs a week to catch up on sleep and then my mom might visit at some point and she's going to force me to bring you guys down to the apartment so she can cook for all of us._

**(4:29 PM) Yuchan:**  
_Awwww that's cute, we could make a whole day out of that!_

**(4:28 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_can we talk about planning later....i'm kind of stressed over all of it already ctfu_

Donghun chuckles affectionately and sends a confirmation that, yes, they could discuss this tomorrow. Once the chat settles down he hums, sets an alarm for six and decides that a nap would be good. Wasn’t there once a study that showed that a hour and a half was the perfect nap time? Maybe he’s making that up.

But it’ll pass time and get him to tonight quicker.

And that excites him. 

He drifts off to the thought of him and Junhee sharing a hotel room together. Of course the others are there - but even the Junhee in his thoughts has some kind of magnetic quality.

He wakes up to the sound of his alarm going off. The phone nearly gets chucked across the living room before he steadies his nerves enough to turn the damned thing off. Then there’s the soft drifting sound of laughter on one of the opposite end of the couch.

Donghun grumbles lazily, stretching out and letting out a strangled noise as he curls his toes.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” Junhee breaks the drowsy silence. When he gets a proper look at him, he’s got the Starbucks drink cupped in his hands. “I found this and assumed it was for me.”

“It was.” He yawns out, sitting up a bit. “I’m glad you found it.”

“Our microwave had a minty coffee, I had a few assumptions and opened it up.” He chuckles gently. “It’s good. Thank you.”

Donghun lets out a silent ‘mm’ in response, looking at his phone blearily. 

“You ready for hot chocolate night?” His mind finally settles on. “It starts...either at seven or past seven. But we don’t have to be there right away.”

Junhee nods happily, hair a little messy. He wonders when he woke up.

“Of course I’m ready.” Junhee beams. “Free hot chocolate and hanging out with someone at night? Isn’t that supposed to be a college kids favorite things combined?”

Possibly.

“Is it your favorite things?” He asks, finally completely sitting up and tossing his phone lightly onto the coffee table before them.

“It’s some of them!”

Well that’s just damn adorable. And a relief, really.

“I’m glad. They’re some of my favorite things too.” He smiles. Junhee just hums pleasantly and downs the rest of his coffee. “I hope the group chat didn’t wake you, by the way.”

“Oh. No it didn’t. I was out cold.” He chuckles. “Plus my phone was on my bed and not yours, so.”

Right.

“Was my bed comfortable?” Donghun asks curiously, stretching. One of his arms crack and he grunts at the noise, carefully rolling his shoulders as he lowers his arms. “I’m assuming it was.”

Junhee nods in confirmation.

“Yours feels much comfier than mine for whatever reason.” Junhee comments idly, leaning forward to set his cup down on the coffee table. “Thank you for letting me sleep on it.”

He snorts, fond. 

“No problem.” He nods, moving to push himself off the couch. “But do you want me to make dinner or something before we go out?”

“I was thinking we could eat after the hot chocolate night, actually.” He says, staring at the other with a raised brow.

Hm. Donghun likes the sound of that, actually.

“Sounds good.” He nods. “I’m going to go clean my face and change my clothes, alright?”

Junhee just nods, an odd twinkle in his eye. He just rolls his eyes playfully, ruffling the other’s hair as he walks around the couch and starts down the hallway.

Humming, he contently scrubs his face clean in the bathroom before going to pluck out a plain, non-decal long sleeved shirt from his collection. His skinny jeans are fine, he decides. But the shirt adds a level of classiness that he can’t really pinpoint. It’s there, though.

Junhee comes in halfway through the sleeve rolling process, beaming like an idiot when Donghun glances towards him.

“You look good in that shirt.” He says breezily. “Long sleeves suit you.”

“Oh. Thank you.” He says, fumbling and making an uneven fold. Dammit, he was doing so well. Junhee just clicks his tongue as a reply. Then he’s tugging off his own shirt and Donghun makes sure to keep his eyes away. Because he doesn’t want to look weird.

Yeah.

Dammit.

“Do you want to head out now?” He asks instead. “We can claim one of the better views before the other people get there. Of course there will be less people since some people are home for the break, but there’s still a fair portion hanging around.”

Junhee seems to be thinking, judging by the soft ‘ktchhh’ noise that leaves his lips. Donghun mentally notes how cute it sounds. Because it’s adorable and absolutely already committed to memory.

“Sure. My shirt is clean and my hair looks presentable..” He trails off, the soft sound of him tapping on his phone filling in where the words were. “And my phone has over ninety percent on its battery. I’d say I’m ready.”

“Did you feed Latte?”

“Mhm. While you were napping.”

Donghun nods, smoothing down his shirt and making a vague effort to tuck it into his pants. He clicks his tongue as if giving an order to follow, shoving his wallet and phone into their respective pockets.

“My keys are on the couch I think, so -“ Donghun starts, startling as Junhee holds out his hand when he looks at him. “- oh. They’re in your hands.” He says, taking them out of his hand.

“I figured we would need them.”

“You’re absolutely correct.” He chuckles dryly. Before they leave, he snags a jacket from their shared drawer. Then he’s moving to usher the other out of the room and towards their shoe rack. 

With their shoes on, they head on out of the apartment and Donghun notes that he’s actually buzzing with a certain feeling of giddiness. Junhee, thankfully, seems equally as excited.

They walk in sync for most of the journey, Junhee latching onto his arm only after he had stumbled a bit going down some uneven path. The ground on campus just doesn’t seem to get along with the other.

When they get there it’s just a few minutes shy of seven, the staff in charge of the event setting up. There’s a good amount of people already hanging out, some sitting on benches around the area. Donghun hums, watching two guys set up the stands while a woman seems to be fiddling with a speaker set.

Junhee is taking in the pretty decorations - string lights hanging on the already set up tents, paper streamers wrapped around lamp poles. Donghun finds himself smiling fondly, tugging the other along to look around for a comfortable place to sit down for a few hours. He spies the gazebo in the middle of it all, front steps already claimed by a group of friends sitting there. But as they walk closer, he’s happy to note that one of the benches is still vacant.

He smiles, carefully guiding Junhee past the people on the steps. Then he sits him down and admires the backdrop glow of the string lights around them. It’s a bit breathtaking and it’s barely dark out.

“Pretty, huh?” Junhee makes in lieu of a conversation starter.

“You are - absolutely right.” He stumbles halfway through, clearing his throat and sitting down next to the other and laying his jacket down in between them. “In case you get cold.”

“What about you?”

“I’m in long sleeves, I’ll be okay.”

Junhee just huffs out a small little comment that he can’t quite catch. But then he’s smiling and looking around again, so Donghun can’t be bothered to ask him to repeat himself. Instead he looks at the people slowly trickling in, realizing that there were more people than he expected. He supposes that this is the schools way of letting them have a party without having to deal with the more unsavory parts of it.

They end up people watching. Junhee points out a girl named Euna, comments about how her acting is wonderful. Donghun points out Minkyun and Minseok - though he’s only really ever talked to the latter. But anyone who hangs out with Minseok is generally pretty nice and easy to get along with. This is a nice back and forth, he decides. He learns who Junhee hangs out with when the others are busy. It’s not a big group of people but he can recognize most of their names, can laugh at how excited Junhee seems to be when he notices someone else he knows.

It’s one of his more endearing qualities.

Music starts playing, calmer music to fit the night. Somehow it fits the mood that he and Junhee have lulled themselves into.

Man, he’s missed this event. He really shouldn’t have just abandoned it like that. Now this might be the last one he gets to enjoy.

The first hot chocolates are given out around seven fifteen. There’s light music playing, the sky finally darkening enough to make the lights actually do their job. The snack stand is still being set up but he can’t complain much - he’s more than happy to wait to see what’s actually being made.

“Want me to go stand in line for our hot chocolates?” He asks, nudging Junhee lightly. The other hums, smiling and nodding in response. “Stay here and fight for this bench with your life.”

“But I’ll lose in a fight.”

“You will with that attitude.” Donghun chuckles, nodding his head before getting up and exiting the gazebo. He dodges through the loitering people, admires the way that some people actively getting into the music - even if it wasn’t some hot club mix.

There’s still a line when he gets there but he isn’t necessarily surprised about that. It’s free, it’s good, it’s cold out. Drinks are necessary. So he’s fine with waiting. It’s not miserably long so, reasonably, he can pass the time by people watching again.

As the line moves, he spots Jihun and Seungjun smooching under one of the lamps. It’s incredibly easy because they’re the tallest people around and are ultimately not hard to miss between the gaps in the crowd. Then there’s a distinct phone buzzing coming from his pocket, causing him to fumble for his phone.

**(7:21 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_hows hot chocolate going?_

**(7:21 PM) Donghun:**  
_How’d you know?_

**(7:22 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_just a small hunch i had. u were pretty fond of the event freshman year. happy to see ur going out there again._

**(7:23 PM) Donghun:**  
_Well...I wasn’t just gonna let Junhee miss it, y'know._

**(7:24 PM) Donghun:**  
_But what are you up to?_

**(7:24 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_Kwan is out for the night and I’m lonely. I was wondering, though. Would it be smart to just confess in private...no fanfare or anything...just me and him.._

**(7:26 PM) Donghun:**  
_You’re asking one of the least qualified people you know...I was in a relationship but it doesn’t mean I know anything about how to start one really.._

For now he pockets the phone in favor of having his turn up at the front of the booth. The woman working there smiles at him pleasantly when he requests two hot chocolates.

“Do you want lids on the cups?” She asks as she fills the second cup, voice lofting over the music.

“Yes, please.” He replies, smiling.

She nods and adds the lid to the drinks after she finishes serving them, handing them over. Then he’s free to walk back to the gazebo. But of course his paranoid mind fears he’ll drop the drinks and he’ll have to do a walk of shame back to either Junhee or the booth. So before he walks any further he tries to survey the easiest way back to the gazebo. 

Deciding that maybe walking around the outskirts of the crowd was the best option, he weaves himself out and around. It’s nice to see everyone having a good time. Finals has seemingly required healing for a lot of people, based on how some people are sprawled out on the benches, heads in someone else’s lap. 

Cute.

He holds the drinks close to him, enjoying the warmth of them on his palms. The walk is going smoothly, he’s had to say hi to a few people but that’s not too bad. It doesn’t hurt to be friendly. Especially friendly towards people who know him from his radio show. He even stops a few times to talk to a few of the other radio hosts he spots in the crowd. They’re all itching to broadcast again, so all he can do is hope they get to do a few shows after the break. Sometimes second semester just gets a bit too hectic to continue.

He decides that he’s hung around enough, shuffling his feet against the asphalt. Then he’s hurrying off, grip tight on the cups in his hand as he now settles on a more direct route to get back to Junhee. He slips through the crowd and finally reaches the gazebo, sighing thankfully when he sees Junhee still sitting there. The only reason he's moving so fast is that he doesn't want to get caught up in another conversation, but he wonders if that in turn makes him rude. 

As graceful as a flustered, awkward individual can be, he approaches and sits down, holding out Junhee’s cup to him.

“Sorry.” He apologizes. “People just kept talking to me. Though I suppose it's my fault for saying hi first.”

Junhee laughs at that, loud and happy as he takes the cup and holds it in his hands.

“That’s okay, I didn’t think you ran away or anything. The group chat has been keeping me entertained.” Junhee says pleasantly. “I was reading the conversation I was asleep for.”

“Ah.” He nods, sipping at his drink and scrunching his face at the warmth. “Would you be fine with it? The shared hotel thing?”

“Yeah. I can help pitch in for that, you know?” He comments quietly, pursing his lips. “That way you guys don’t have to spend money.”

“No.” He says, intent on shutting that mindset down quickly. “We’ll all pitch in. It’s not fair to make one single person pay for it.”

“But -“

“Believe me. It’ll be cooler if we all pitch in that way we all spend the same amount of money.” Donghun chuckles lightly, nudging him. “Plus it wouldn’t be fun to spend a lot of money all on your own, right? You might be well off but you still have to be money conscious.”

Junhee just shrugs. Donghun wonders, vaguely, how much he had to cover for his past friends to immediately offer paying for something like a hotel room. Probably way to often. The other seems like an easy target for the ‘I forgot my wallet’ scheme. And any scheme, really. He’s scared to ask if Junhee has had to cover for anyone here.

The other just purses his lips and scuffs his shoes against the gazebo floor before sipping at his drink. There’s a soft lull in conversation before Junhee looks off into the direction of the snack booth.

"I'm going to go look at what they're offering." He says and all Donghun can do is nod. It's not like he's going to say no to Junhee of all people. "Do you want anything?"

"Just get me whatever you get, if you get anything at all." He says. "We'll be eating later either way so it doesn't matter much to me."

Junhee just nods and heads off, somehow perfectly fitting the atmosphere of this whole thing. Then he remembers his phone and how he hasn't checked his messages in awhile. Whoops. He sets his drink down and pulls out his phone instead, unlocking it and going to his messages again.

**(7:27 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_i mean you have always been decently wise regardless of your past experiences...i think they've helped you grow as a person._

**(7:40 PM) Donghun:**  
_I guess. I dunno. If it were me I'd confess in private. Then have a dinner date if the feeling is mutual. You could still use our kitchen in that case._

**(7:43 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_if it were you....:P_

**(7:45 PM) Donghun:**  
_Shut it. Have a good night, Sehyoon._

**(7:45 PM) Sehyoon:**  
_good night, dont choke on ur own feelings!_

Absolutely unbelievable. Never did he ever imagine that Sehyoon would be the one that stresses him out the most over his somewhat crush. Sehyoon should be more focused on his own emotional constipation over Byeongkwan, thank you very much. He can't think about it for long, though, because Junhee is already heading back his direction. Sitting up a bit straighter, he looks attentively in the other's direction. In turn Junhee smiles a bit when he notices, ducking his head as he goes to sit down next to him once more. There is notably no snacks to be found.

"Decided against snacks?"

"Nothing really caught my interest." Junhee hums out. In a way, that's code word for 'the prices weren't worth it'; which is valid. "Plus the line was long and I may be patient but -" He cuts himself off, shrugging. "I'd rather be spending that time with you."

Ow, his heart. All he can do is let out a surprised laugh at that which in turn leaves a beaming grin on Junhee's face.

The night stretches on like that. At some point he takes a few photos of the other, Junhee so delicately illuminated by the string lights glowing behind him. Junhee seems perfectly content with being a model. At a certain point he even begins making a few jokingly snide remarks about getting his good angles. Donghun enjoys playing the part of photographer. 

Some time after that, he notices the goose bumps along the other's arms. Rolling his eyes with as much fondness he can muster, he sets his near empty cup down in favor of picking the jacket up and fanning it over the younger's shoulders. Junhee makes a confused noise at it, reaching to grip at the fabric quizzically.

"Good thing I brought it." He grins, watching how Junhee seems to sink into it. "You can actually put it on, you know."

And he does. It makes him look three times more adorable which is unfair - but he'll deal with it for the sake of his warmth. Junhee murmurs a thank you, blinking a few times before leaning against him a little. He represses the smile trying to break into his face. They sit like that for awhile and Donghun aches to rest his hand on top of Junhee's. But he won't. Not tonight. Instead he basks in the feeling of Junhee getting comfortable against him. Nothing makes him feel more at peace than the music, the soft chatter, the smell of food and, ultimately, the smell of Junhee's cologne mixed with the clean smell of the jacket he put on. 

Tonight hurts in all the best ways possible. All he can think of is how ridiculous this all is. Here he is in a long sleeved plain shirt with no decals because he wanted to look clean. Then there's Junhee, who is starting to scarily feel like a cohesive part of his life. Once upon a time, he couldn't imagine settling down with someone he met in college. But now -

Hm.

Junhee shifts a little, head adjusting itself so he could rest his chin on Donghun's shoulder. They're pressed close now and Donghun allows himself the treat of tilting his head against Junhee's.

"Donghun?"

"Mm?"

"Do you feel peaceful?" Junhee asks, gentle and confused.

“Of course.” A curious pause. “Why are you asking?”

“I don't know.” He murmurs. "I just - haven't felt like this in a long time, I think."

Ah.

“You deserve to feel like this. You know that, right?" He asks in a hushed voice. 

“I think I know that now.” Junhee mumbles, tapping his fingers against his cup. “I don’t know if I knew it before."

Donghun hums, thinking for a moment before scooting closer so Junhee can lean against him more comfortably. He can’t help but laugh at the whole situation. But it’s a soft laugh, gentle as the night sky. Junhee in turn laughs with him and he can’t help but love how Junhee’s laugh sounds when it’s mixed with his.

Within the next half an hour, Junhee manages to drift off into a soft slumber on his shoulder. He only knows because of how Junhee seems to melt against his side, cup set on the ground a few minutes prior. Donghun does his best not to jostle his shoulder too much, instead swiping through some of his social media accounts that way he doesn't disturb the other. Though he does start to get hungry and he knows that Junhee needs to eat too. He holds out for another ten or so minutes before carefully, shrugging his shoulder to disturb the other.

Junhee makes an offended little noise, something between a whine and a yawn. But his head is moving despite it, hanging low when he's forced to sit on his own. 

"Let's go get something to eat, yeah?" Donghun asks softly, admiring the sleepy gaze he gets a response. "Want to go to the apartment or to a diner?"

"Apartment."

"We can make breakfast for dinner, then. How does that sound?"

He just gets an affirmative noise and watches as Junhee sits up. He chuckles at how Junhee wavers before he goes to check the time on his phone. It's only nine thirty, which isn't too late but he'd rather have Junhee fall asleep on their couch than on a bench. Even if he thinks its cute. That said, he's not sure if Junhee will be able to completely walk all the way back to their place. Thinking, he stands up and glances at the other. Junhee moves to stand up as well, only for him to wave his hand and have him sit back down.

"Want a piggy back ride back to the apartment?" He asks. "Limited time offer."

The other makes a soft laughing noise, nodding sleepily. He rolls his eyes, making some quiet comment about how he'd prefer a verbal answer. Either way he picks up Junhee's empty cup and his own, going to toss it in a nearby bin before returning. Then he's crouching in front of bench, looking back at the younger.

"Get on, then." He hums. Reasonably he knows his back will hate this in the morning. Honestly it'll probably hate him in ten minutes. 

To his credit, Junhee does seem to come back to his senses just enough for him to question the whole thing. But Donghun's already committed and Junhee decides that he'll just slow them down. Which isn't a bad thing, really, Donghun would be fine with a longer walk. In the end his sleepy side wins over his logical won and he's slotting himself onto Donghun's back.

Once Junhee's situated, arms around his neck and legs tight against his sides, Donghun stands up. It takes a moment to steady himself, but then he's grinning triumphantly while Junhee rests his head on his shoulder once more. Then he's walking off the gazebo, arms tucked under Junhee's legs for added support. Surprisingly, Junhee isn't choking him. So that's a win. 

The walk is careful and slow. At some point he thinks Junhee has dozed off, but instead the younger is awake enough to hear Donghun call him a dumbass. Instead of sleeping, Junhee makes it a job to tell Donghun about all his weird but good dreams he's had at some point. All Donghun can do is listen. 

“You’re very cute, Junhee.” He murmurs quietly, once Junhee has quieted down. He's not sure if he's awake or asleep but it's too late to take it back. Maybe he’ll regret saying that later, but right now he thinks they’re fitting for the moment. “I’ll make sure you always find a reason to feel this peaceful, I promise.”

It’s just them, quiet. It’s just them and the feeling of something profound that hasn't been touched yet. It’s just them, here, right now. And it’s a mix of warmth from them clinging to each other and the bite of chill from the night. 

“You’re also cute.” Junhee replies in a sleepy voice. "I'll make sure you feel peaceful too."


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> behold, a chapter !
> 
> updates:  
> \- ending is fully fleshed out for this fic! now it's just the matter of getting to it.  
> \- other works are getting laid out for after this story ends, all of which are chaptered works!
> 
> enjoy the chapter <3

Their break is going smoothly. Well. Smooth as in they’re sleeping too much and their meals consist of crackers and ham slices because they don’t have the will to cook. Donghun cooked once a few days ago and Junhee’s slated to cook tomorrow. It’s not that they’re lazy. They just don’t know what they want to eat.

Currently Donghun is finishing a shift at the pet shop - realizing that he would like to keep making some money. Plus he kind of has plans to take Junhee out to dinner when he finally starts working after their break. A celebration meal of sorts.

Plus any pocket cash he can get for their end of break trip would be lovely. If they’re going to an amusement park he wants to try and play those horrible rigged games. A sneaking suspicion tells him that Junhee will stare longingly at them and try to will the prizes out of the machine. Yuchan would probably do the same. 

Its dumb but he definitely wants to win Yuchan and Junhee something. He can’t trust Byeongkwan with it because Byeongkwan gets too competitive and spends all his money and Sehyoon...Sehyoon tries, bless his heart.

So he’s perfectly fine with dealing with less than enthused and, alternatively, overly enthused customers. An elementary school kid came in with her pet dog and proudly proclaimed that he destroyed her mom’s couch. Mom was, surprisingly, less proud of the dog. But they walked away with an armful of chew toys, so maybe things will be okay now.

By the time he’s driving home an hour later, he’s thoroughly pleased with the work he’s done. It was only a part time shift but the owners are understandable that he just wants a few extra bucks before his next paycheck in a week.

They’ve talked about the trip some more - they all face timed to talk about the different suites available. They agreed on three days because it was the most cost efficient in terms of enjoying the park and being able to afford everything. Now all they need is exact dates so Byeongkwan can get the days off - which he’s excited for because he can only survive daycare field trips for so long. The whole prospect has Junhee very excited, which makes his own heart warm.

The one problem they’re personally facing, however, is where the hell Latte is going to go. Junhee is unsurprisingly wary of where he wants the cat to go, while Donghun is trying to rack his brain for a placating option. Junhee won’t hand the cat over to just _anyone_. Which is a problem. But it’s understandable - if Donghun had a pet he’d be the same way. They’re too wary to trust anyone in their complex, honestly, because of the fact that someone might rat them out. And that would send Junhee into a state of panic. So before they figure out everything else, he made a promise that they’d settle Latte’s living arrangements first.

He’s got a few ideas. It’s just running them by Junhee that’ll be the hard bit.

He parks and gets out of the car, enjoying that he’s already home before one in the afternoon. That’s the whimsical thing about early shifts. 

As he heads to their apartment, he tries to remember if he and Junhee had anything planned for today - or for the next few days for that matter. What he does know is that Junhee went to bed at four in the morning last night. The truth is the younger probably would’ve pulled an all nighter if he hadn’t woken up and scolded him before putting him to bed. Perhaps he tucked him in. Details, details.

Junhee had still been blissfully sleeping when he headed out. 

By the time he’s in their apartment, he’s very aware that the human tornado known as his possible crush had blown through the place. Latte’s bowl is crookedly put down on the floor just a bit away from where it’s usually placed. The covered plate of honey buns is uncovered and (mostly) barren. And on the couch is the tornado himself, swaddled up in a blanket with only tufts of his hair poking out. 

Truly a lazy day.

Junhee doesn’t stir at all as he walks through the living room. Doesn’t stir when he’s putting dishes away or picking up Latte’s empty tin. There’s a lull where he has nothing to do at all other than read but - he doesn’t want to.

So he settles himself down on the small corner of free couch and pulls out his phone to scroll through the twitter moments. Donghun even takes a photo of the human burrito next to him and sends it to the group chat with a simple ‘:)’. It, in a way, was payback for the picture of him that was sent to the others. His was more so tainted by Junhee pressing a finger into his cheek, though.

He’s still not sure how he didn’t wake up from that. The chat didn’t let him live that down the whole day. Plus Sehyoon sent him a winky face emoji and he’s still not sure what that means. Well. There’s probably a good meaning about it but he doesn’t want to deal with it from Sehyoon of all people.

Donghun huffs a little laugh as the group chat takes the photo and runs with it. It’s innocent enough, really. Byeongkwan drew butterfly wings and called him a caterpillar. Yuchan is putting a bunch of filters on it. Sehyoon is..spectating.

Butterfly wings is the best, even if the term ‘caterpillar’ is incorrect in this situation. 

Junhee wiggles around next to him, stretching out and bumping his feet against Donghun’s leg. He quirks an eyebrow at the motion, fond. Then Junhee is hunching himself back into a scrunched up position. It’s adorable and now he’s willing to admit it with himself.

It’s a new thing he’s trying. Being honest with himself. Which is nice - new, but nice. He couldn’t even think of being dishonest at this point.

He’s absolutely has a crush on Junhee. Which is - well. Not unexpected or ridiculous. It makes sense when he thinks about it. Junhee is absolutely charming which is frankly unfair. No one should be able to balance dorkiness and charm as well as he does.

Maybe that’s how Sehyoon feels about Byeongkwan. Well. Now it makes sense. It always has made sense if he thinks about it. 

He blinks a few times, tapping out a message to the group chat before shutting his phone off. Noticing Latte on the floor by his feet, he coos at her lovingly and bends over to pet her. She wiggles a bit, chasing after his hand when he removes it. Then she’s hopping onto his lap, head butting his chest lightly.

Donghun is smitten with her. Maybe he can convince her to be...his wingcat? Is that a thing? It is now. He presses kisses to the top of her head, scratching behind her ears as she purrs contently. She’s adorable, really.

Then he’s looking between Junhee and Latte, smirking as he picks her up just to plop her roughly where he thinks Junhee’s legs are. Latte wobbles a bit as she finds her balance. But then she is walking across the other as if he were a human bridge.

Then she’s settling down in between the couch and Junhee, taking up as much space as possible. Poor Junhee. But it’s also nearly one thirty, so he supposes that Junhee should be waking up soon.

And that’s exactly what starts happening. Junhee wiggles around, a disgruntled whine leaving the blanket confines as he does. Soon enough there’s a head poking up out of the blankets, bed head visible in all its glory. His eyes are still half closed, face scrunched in a pissy frown.

“Good afternoon sleeping beauty.” Donghun says breezily, smiling. “I see you made the great migration from the bed to the couch.”

Junhee grunts, rubbing at his eyes.

“Didn’t want to be in bed anymore.” He yawns, rolling onto his back so Latte could stop pushing him. “So I came out here.”

“You didn’t want to sleep in bed anymore so you came and slept...on the couch?” 

“Mhm.”

“..Alright.” He chuckles. “Only after devouring the honey buns.”

“I didn’t even register what those were when I was eating them.” He admits. “But now that I think about it - yeah they did have a honey taste to them.”

God he’s ridiculous.

Junhee stretches out, resting his legs on the edge of Donghun’s lap. He hums, patting his leg and pinching at the exposed skin peeking out from the blanket. 

“Why this?” Junhee whines. “Why must you pinch?”

“Because I can.” Donghun grins. “It’s free real estate.”

“That’s not how you use the meme -“

“I’m learning, sh.”

Junhee huffs, digging his heels into the meat of Donghun’s thigh as a way of rebellion. He just pinches him again. If anything, Junhee looks a little indignant about it. But then he gets a lazy smile before Junhee sprawls back onto the couch.

“You better not be planning to sleep again -” He starts, watching as the other just playfully waves him off. “- because I will throttle you.”

“Sure you will.”

The other has gotten quite good at calling his bluffs lately. But right now he’s not bluffing. No, he won’t throttle him or anything.

But.

He instead moves to lay over the top of Junhee, squishing him into the couch. Donghun still does support some of his weight by bending his knees - not intent on actually flattening the younger. It is enough of an incentive to get Junhee to complain and whine, though, so he assumes that his plan is working. Plus with Junhee still for the most part wrapped up in his blanket, there’s no real escape for him. It is the end of Park Junhee. 

At least it’s supposed to be. Somehow Junhee has managed to get one arm free of the blanket and away from his body, now mercilessly tickling down his sides. Donghun plans to hold strong and not give in, but Junhee gets him right under the ribs and all he can do is try and swat the hand away. When that has little success, he ultimately pulls away to retreat against the corner of the couch.

“You win this time, you demon.” Donghun huffs. “But next time I’ll be prepared.”

“Sure.” Junhee grins, face flushed red and he can’t tell if its from the giggling or a blush. “But that’s what you get for messing with my sleep.”

“You weren’t even asleep yet so that doesn’t count.”

“Does to.”

“Does not.”

“Does to.”

“Does -” His phone cuts them off, ringing out a familiar tambourine sound. Ah. Mom. “Does _not_.” He says while sticking his tongue out. Then he’s pulling his phone from his pocket. Ignoring the incredulous huffing and excessive finger pointing, he gets up from the couch and answers the call. Junhee stays situated on the couch, maybe making a dumb face in his direction. He's not looking back to check.

He retreats to their room but he’s not sure who he’s protecting from who. He doesn’t really want his mom to hear him call Junhee a dingus and he also really does not want his mom and Junhee becoming friends and teaming against him. So maybe he’s protecting himself.

“Your wonderful son here.” He says into the speaker, shutting the door closed behind him. “What’s up?”

“Just curious to see what you were up to.” She says in the same chipper tune he remembers. “You getting along with Junhee?”

“Too well.”

“That’s fantastic!” She coos out. “Anyways, your dad and I were considering coming out with food.” She says casually before continuing. “Since I’m assuming you will not be coming down here?”

“Oh.” He didn’t think she was serious. “Yeah, I won’t be coming down. Junhee..probably isn’t leaving and if I leave him to his own devices I’ll come back to a rearranged place.”

His mom laughs over the line, prickly from static but the same warm tone nonetheless. 

“Well, we’ll definitely be coming down then. We were thinking about maybe staying over the weekend at a hotel? Two days is enough to see each other for right now.” She says. “Especially since we’ll be down longer for graduation.”

Ah right. He’d forgotten that his parents would be down for that.

“Sounds good!” He pitches in after he realizes that maybe he’s been too quiet. “You’ll probably want me to get the whole group together, huh?”

“Yeah! We’ll provide the food if you let us have a free afternoon with you.” He can hear the soft sound of rustling over the line. “If you’re willing to spend time with your parents.”

“Of course I am, you know that.”

“I know, but it’s always good to give you the option to back out.” She hums. “Anyways. How are things going?”

How are things going.

What a...loaded yet simple question. 

“I’m doing perfectly fine.” He finally decides. “Nothing has been too stressful and the last few weeks has been eventful enough to keep me from getting bored.” He says as he goes to sit on his bed. “And you?”

“Working and working some more. I don’t know why people get so petty this time of the year but alas, they do.” She sighs. “But I’m glad you’re doing well. And Junhee?”

“He was a bit stressed over finals but he’s turned into a couch potato recently. He was just waking up before you called, actually.”

“Lazy.” She chuckles. “But I’m glad he’s doing alright. I’m excited to meet him, if I’m honest.”

“Why?”

“Whenever you talk about him, you become so animated. So...not how mopey like you’ve been. It’s nice hearing you excited to tell me about your day, even if it’s about how Junhee dropped a box of cheerios or how you had to feed his ‘dumb cat’ who you proceed to coo at while you’re still on the phone with me.” She giggles. “He’s destroying your grumpy reputation.”

“I was not mopey or grumpy.”

“You may not have felt that way, but your voice was definitely portraying something completely different.”

Donghun thinks about it while she excuses herself to go help dad put some groceries away. He’s stuck with the phone line picking up small snippets of conversation between his parents - though most is drowned out and muffled by whatever the speaker was pressed up against. It’s just like his mom to leave the phone on instead of just saying she’d call him back. 

It does let him think about if he had been extremely grumpy prior to Junhee. He didn’t necessarily feel grumpy, no. More tired than anything. Sure he was mopey sometimes when it came to bad grades or test scores - sometimes even the occasional oddly long shift at work. But other than that he had felt decently alright. Of course he had bad days, but that’s expected because everyone has bad days.

Perhaps his mom could just hear something he couldn’t. But he would admit - he enjoyed looking forward to hearing whatever Junhee has to say early in the morning. Under the guise of being sleepy, Junhee is the rougher version of himself. Quick worded yet a mixed bag of gentle or rough depending on how he rolled out of bed that day. A brilliant comparison one day, a complaint the next, a weird unexpected pun the day after. It was routine and comfortable and settled a need for domesticity in his stomach. 

In no time at all his mom's back on the phone and the thoughts he has are long forgotten. Instead it’s conversations about hotels he knows, how the others are doing, what the weather is like. At some point she’s catching him up on her favorite shows - one about a plane that disappeared with its passengers for five years only to return like nothing happened. It sounds interesting except for the fact that she just told him everything about the first two episodes.

Though he supposes that he could keep watching from episode three. 

Sometime later his dad takes over the phone to talk to him. It’s been a while since they’ve talked over the phone. 

“Classes treating you well?” His dad asks happily, seemingly content with just hearing his voice.

“Always, dad.” He replies happily. “My professors love me for the most part.”

“There will always be a few that are absolutely miserable.” His dad confirms. “But I believe that you’ll survive.”

They talk for a while and it feels good. He’s forgotten how much he misses his parents. Once he graduates he’ll go back and spend some time with them. 

“Hey dad, is my room still set up?”

“Of course, why?”

“Just wondering.” He says with a smile. In truth he just wanted to know for when he inevitably barges in on their house after graduation. His dad doesn’t probe any further, seemingly content with Donghun moving the conversation over to the most recent movie releases - ones that he’s specifically not watching just so he can hopefully watch them with his dad later on. 

All conversations have to come to an end at some point, though. Their conversation is pushing over an hour and his mom is in the background worried about her cell phone battery. So it’s with a large amount of goodbyes that Donghun finally sends them off. He’s pretty sure that he can hear his mom blow a kiss, the audible lip smacking crackling through the speaker.

His heart feels warm even if his brain is exhausted from the constant talking. Jaw numb, he deftly plugs in his phone and leaves the room to go grab some water. There’s a bounce in his step that’s even noticeable from his own perspective and he feels like he’s actually seen his family in person despite only hearing their voices.

Junhee notices his good mood rather easily. Donghun notices that Junhee still has the blanket wrapped around as if he were the king of comfort. Two different moods, really. But they go hand in hand like they were built for each other. 

Donghun drinks water while Junhee makes a sandwich. It doesn’t look like a good sandwich, the ratio of peanut butter and jelly is off by way too much. But Junhee seems satisfied with it so maybe it is the perfect ratio to him. 

“Who was that?” Junhee finally asks after a while, picking off a piece of his crust. “I’m assuming it was someone you enjoy talking to.”

“Oh. My parents.” Donghun snorts, swirling the water in his cup. “They’re coming down.”

“Exciting!” He says brightly. “I’m sure they’re lovely people.”

“They are! They’re coming down with the intention to make food for us.” He chuckles. “I think my mom is excited to meet you.”

“Why?”

“She says I sound...less grumpy? Not as mopey.”

“Aww, is she saying that I’ve brightened up your life?”

“With your dumbass antics? Absolutely.” Donghun huffs out a laugh as Junhee pouts dramatically. “But seriously. I think she’ll really like you.”

Junhee’s pout is replaced with a bright grin as he goes back to eating. He’s hunched over the sink, crumbs cascading into the basin instead of everywhere. It’s a brilliant method that looks a little stupid. He rolls his eyes playfully, moving to chug down the rest of his water and nudging Junhee out of the way to put it in the sink.

“Anyways. Are we just lounging around today?”

“Hm?”

“Do you want to go outside or nah?”

“How cold is it?”

“Not bad if you wear a jacket.” Donghun shrugs. “It’s up to you, though.”

Junhee nods a bit, seemingly pondering the options as he chews. Then he’s shrugging nonchalantly.

“I kind of..I don’t know. Want to relax.” He hums. “Plus weren’t you and Sehyoon talking about going to the gym today?”

Oh.

Shit. Yeah.

“You just reminded me of that.” Donghun sighs. “I probably shouldn’t cancel that unless he cancels first.”

“Yeah. You guys always talk about it in the group chat and never plan anything. So. This is your opportunity to actually do something about it.” Junhee giggles, turning on the faucet to wash his hands. “So you go and when your body hates you, you can come back and we’ll watch movies or something.”

Donghun nods a bit. 

Then he’s placing his cup on the counter, moving to stare wistfully at the kitchen wall.

“You should join us.”

“Absolutely not.”

“It’d be wonderful to see you booking it on a treadmill.”

“Nope.”

He sighs.

“It was worth a try.” He says, stretching. 

“A valiant effort.” Junhee muses. “You should probably go make sure you’re still actually heading out.”

“Yeah.” A pause. “Yeah I should.”

The younger just smiles at him and leaves the kitchen - probably with the intention of reclaiming the couch. How unfair. He has to go sweat and be gross. Disgusting.

But he also knows that he’s really been putting it off too long. 

Part of him does still want to cancel and comence movie watching now. Instead he enters the living room, moving to nudge the other in the back of the head as he settles down on the couch. 

“I want you to shower while I’m gone.” He says simply. “That way I don’t have to try and talk you into one while you’re half asleep.”

“But -“

“You didn’t shower yesterday, so don’t even try.” He huffs. “Please?”

“I’ll consider it.”

“That’s all I can ask for, then.” He chuckles and pats Junhee on the head before turning and heading down the hall. 

Entering their room, he goes to unplug his phone and shoot a message out to Sehyoon to see if they’ll be working out. He lazes around for a few minutes before Sehyoon responds with a firm ‘absolutely’. So now he really does have to get changed. 

Hunting down a fresh tank top, he changes out of his polo shirt and tosses it off into a corner. It’ll go into their hamper later. Then he’s hunting down his only pair of basketball shorts and changing into them for pure convenience. He heads back out, holding his phone in one hand while hunting down his wallet.

“Jun -“ A pause. Junhee hums, tilting his head to look back at him. “Wallet?”

“Wallet.”

“Wallet.”

Junhee is still staring at him, blinking a few times out of confusion. But it doesn’t look like he’s making any attempt to actually be helpful. With a huff he’s snapping his fingers and laughing at how Junhee startles.

“Do you know where my wallet is?”

“Oh!” That seems to startle him into some semblance of normality. “Last I saw was...” He pauses, leaning over to dig through the couch cushions. “Here!”

He holds it up for him like it’s a found and respected relic. Which it kind of is. That thing has been with him since high school. Donghun plucks it out of Junhee’s hands with a soft thank you, finally putting his phone and wallet into his pockets. 

“I don’t know when I’ll be back, but I don’t think it’ll be too long.” He says as he slides one of his shoes on. “Remember what I said -“

“Yes, yes. I’ll shower.” Junhee calls back. 

“Good.” Donghun finds himself grinning about Junhee’s huffy tone. “Enjoy your cooking show.”

“Always do!”

Then he’s walking back to the dining table to swipe up his keys, looks at the television to admire the quiche they’re making, and whisks himself out of the apartment. He knows that reasonably he doesn’t need to lock the door. It’s just a habit that will die hard with him.

As he heads down to the lobby he sends out a message to Sehyoon, politely telling him to get his ass over to the gym. If he gets there and Sehyoon isn’t there, he’s got fifteen minutes before he’s leaving. Which means Sehyoon will probably get there first.

The walk is brisk. 

It’s cold, something he had told Junhee. And yet here he was in fucking work out gear and nothing warm. He’s a certified dumbass. 

He’s thankful that no one else is around to see him brisk jogging just to avoid the coldness that comes with wearing a fucking muscle tank and basketball shorts. How he envies Junhee, curled up on the couch in a blanket. Or Byeongkwan who’s probably also still in bed.

Or Yuchan who’s preparing for his parents arrival. Or did they already arrive? He doesn't remember.

Only he and Seyhoon are braving the cold to work out. Get strong. Though he’s pretty sure they’d rather be doing anything but that. 

By the time he gets to the gym, Sehyoon is actually already there. He’s sitting on the bench just a few feet away from the entrance, tapping his feet with his hands clasped around a thermos. Donghun didn’t think that far ahead. So now he’s the supreme dumbass for the day.

“Hey.” He greets as he approaches, not making any moves to sit down. Instead he prefers to bounce on his heels to keep himself from shivering. “Why did we think this was a good idea?”

“Because we’ve been whining about not going for too long.” Sehyoon scoffs instead of greeting. “But I’d rather be in the gym working up a sweat than see you slowly freeze out here, so.”

Working out has never sounded so wonderful. But now that he’s getting a chance to save himself from freezing, he realizes the benefits of it. He’ll be excited to leave after he’s all sweaty and gross - the cold air will feel nice.

Then he’ll get cold again and then he’ll be in the apartment. It’s a whole cycle. One that is probably terrible for his immune system.

Sehyoon ushers them in, school identification card at the ready. Donghun has to scramble to get his, terrified of the awkward time in between him getting the card and having to hand the card over. But everything goes smoothly, he shows his card with little issue. 

The heater is on as they leave the lobby and head into the actual work out area. The gym says its to promote the burning of calories but if he’s honest he has no idea if that even holds any truth. Maybe it does. How the hell is he supposed to know? He didn’t come to school to be a scientist.

It’s actually kind of fun once they get into it. They’re not really into the heavy weights that some of the body builders of their school like to use. They stick to the smaller weight levels and go on the treadmills. Particularly they enjoy the elliptical. Or. Well. He enjoys the elliptical and Sehyoon settles on the treadmill directly across from him. It lets them talk in between the suffering.

“At least you’re not cold now, right?” Sehyoon chuckles as he fiddles with some of the settings. “I’m honestly surprised that you even remembered.”

“You can thank Junhee for that.”

“Aw, how sweet.” Sehyoon snorts. “You should’ve convinced him to come along.”

“I did.” He didn’t. “I tried, anyway.” More like offered it already knowing the answer. “He’s comfortable in the apartment. All I asked of him is to shower today.”

Sehyoon barks out a laugh. 

“I don’t think my pitch was strong enough. I said that it’d be funny to see him on a treadmill.”

“Should’ve said that he should see what you look like on the treadmill instead.” Sehyoon says breezily. They always go slow in the beginning, there to converse before they get too into it. Otherwise they wouldn’t be talking at all. “Anyways. Any developments between you two?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking that of you and Byeongkwan?”

Sehyoon sticks out his tongue.

“We cuddled last night, thank you very much.” He says, mock offense in his voice. “Though it was more out of survival than anything. Our building lost the heating for half the night.”

“Yikes.” Donghun hums. “But it let you guys cuddle, though. Bet that was nice.”

“It was, aside from us squabbling over who should be the big spoon.” Sehyoon says with a dramatic flourish. “But now spill. You and Junhee? You’ve been kinda quiet on the subject since last weeks hot chocolate date.”

“Night.”

“Date.”

Donghun sighs. There’s no winning this.

“We’ve been good. I’m - I’m not good at reading him.” Donghun finally offers. “But I’m willing to admit that I at the very least have a crush on him.”

“Progress!”

“I mean I guess.” He shrugs. “The most insight I’ve gotten about how he feels about me is that he would one hundred percent put me as his emergency contact for his senior year.” 

Sehyoon laughs at that and Donghun can’t help but shoot a glare his way.

“I mean - that’s a start I suppose.” Sehyoon says after he recovers. “You don’t ask just anyone to be your emergency contact.”

That’s true. 

“Besides, you said that you didn’t want to try and fool yourself into thinking that you two could even be, like, a plausible couple.” The other continues. “Though you totally could be.”

“How so?”

“Are you serious?” He asks, seemingly bewildered. “You took him to the fuckin’ hot chocolate day even though you swore you wouldn’t go since you and Jaeseok called it off between you two and then blamed it on being busy with classes. And then you said that he mentioned that he thinks you’re cute.”

“He was tired.”

“Sleepiness brings out the honesty in people!” Sehyoon frowns. “Like, come on. I know I was oblivious to hell and back about being attracted to Byeongkwan. But, like, the signs are there.”

“The signs can be wrong.”

“Only if you’re trying to make them wrong.” 

Sehyoon is one to talk. But maybe his constant obliviousness and then sudden realization brought him some cosmic knowledge that Donghun just doesn’t have access to.

“I’m not going to try and make little things out to have a lot of context.” He says, stubborn on the matter. Though the words taste oddly bitter on his tongue. “That’s not something I’m going to do.”

He may be crushing on Junhee, but he’s going to fight with his own self doubt the whole way through. 

“That’s fair, I’m not saying you should look for context in everything.” Sehyoon says. “I’m just saying that you shouldn’t twist the meanings of the things that seem like they have context.”

“What does that even mean?”

“That’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own.” He says as if he is the wisest person in the gym.

Maybe he is in this split second of time.

Their conversation dwindles after that. It’s mainly Donghun’s fault - he doesn’t want to reply to the other. In favor of not having to talk anymore, he focused intently on the elliptical while Sehyoon sets out on a brisk jog on the treadmill. After some time they migrate over to the stair climbers and Donghun recognizes that they’re not really working out their arms today.

But he’s also not really in the mood to work on them. So. They can go without them, anyway. He’ll just do push ups or something on his own time.

He takes a water break while Sehyoon moves on to a pulldown machine. Just watching him looks some form of miserable so he decides to take his time sipping his water and sitting out against the wall. Taking out his phone, he decides to bother the others for awhile. He doesn’t text Junhee, though, as if that’d be confirming something to Sehyoon. And he’s spiteful and doesn’t want to do it right now. He does send a meme to Yuchan and Byeongkwan though, and they seem impressed with the fact that he’s finally learning meme culture.

It scares him that meme culture seems to be an actual thing.

He goes back to working out by claiming the only pull-up machine. There used to be three, but one was old damaged during gym renovations and another was set up in a weird area. They’ll probably put the second one back once they figure out the layout of the place a bit better.

Working out let’s him have a blissfully blank mind. All he can process is the burn in his muscles and the sweat that’s starting to build up on his skin. Sehyoon seems to be taking his break while Donghun is working on pull-ups and he’s half tempted to join him for a second break. But he won’t because he knows he’ll get roasted for it.

At some point they swap the pulldown and pull-up machines, jamming along to the classical rock that is playing on the radio. He feels gross.

He’s really unsure of how long it’s been since they’ve started. A few people have come in since they’ve started. So he has to assume a decent amount of time. All he really truly knows is that he’s going to feel sore tomorrow. Or probably later today.

Both. 

They both eventually end back by the treadmills and ellipticals, winding down their work out with how they started it out.

“I saw you nearly spill all your water on yourself.” Donghun chimes in tiredly. “It was the most amusing thing I’ve seen today.”

“Hush. You nearly tripped on the mat when you were walking back from the vending machine, don’t act like you’re superior.”

He snorts out a laugh. That’s a fair rebuttal.

“That’s valid.” He sighs out. “But did I look graceful?”

“Not really.”

Damn. He tried, that’s what matters. 

By the time they’ve successfully cooled down, he feels even grosser somehow. Sehyoon seems to share the same sentiment, seeing as he t-poses for a few moments as they leave the gym about half an hour later. It’s cool out, but it feels nice this time. Not nice enough for him to t-pose but if that’s what Sehyoon wants to do, he’ll let him.

They do contemplate getting coffee instead of going right back. But then they decide against it because they both really just want to shower. Plus Sehyoon told Byeongkwan that he’d make dinner. Which meant that he had to brave the common room kitchens. Which sounds hellish.

“I’m making gourmet ramen.” Sehyoon says with a hint of pride. “This time it won’t be made in a coffee pot.”

“You are a disaster.”

“Shut up. He’ll love it.” Sehyoon beams. “I know him.”

Donghun won’t even try to argue that. So he nods and they end up parting ways. Sehyoon heading back to bombard Byeongkwan with his gourmet cooking, Donghun going back to watch movies with Junhee. Which leaves his stomach fluttering a bit more than he’d care to admit. 

Now he’s brisk jogging back, but this time its not because it’s cold. It’s because he’s excited. His hair feels gross when he runs his hands through his hair during his jog. So a shower will definitely be happening before any form of movie night happens. If Junhee didn’t shower he’ll kick his ass. Not literally. But maybe he’d find a spray bottle and wave it around threateningly. 

But he’s pretty sure they don’t have one of those to begin with. 

With a small shake of his head, he frees the hair from his forehead for the umpteenth time. The apartment is in view just as the ache from jogging sets in. His body will hate him at any point now, he’s sure of it. But he’s surprised that he’s not really mad about that. He’s actually kind of missed the burn of exercise. They really should’ve kept up with it more than they have been. 

That said, he doesn’t want to deal with talking to anyone. There’s just some things he doesn’t want to do when he feels gross. The main one is that he doesn’t want to talk to anyone until he’s clean. At least no one he doesn’t really know. Or care about. Or both. Avoiding both is optimal. Which probably makes him sound like an asshole. 

Luckily he gets to the elevator without any problems. No need to converse with anyone when the place is silent as hell. It’s fantastic. Donghun leans against the rail, staring up at the ceiling as the elevator jerks itself to life.

He has his keys out long before he’s at their door, swinging it around his finger before deftly unlocking it. In a split second he has to slide himself in because he hears the telltale sounds of Latte bounding through the living room. Since he doesn’t know which direction she’s headed, he decides to be quick and get in before they have a cat on the loose.

Thankfully, she seems to be tumbling around with a sock that has long been separated from it’s matching pair. He’ll let that slide. 

Junhee still seems to be rooted on the couch when he walks into the living room, but there’s the heavy scent of shampoo and soap in the air to signify that he has indeed showered. The younger always takes the hottest showers possible and he has discovered, through an omission, that he showers with the door cracked when Donghun isn’t there. Which is not surprising in the slightest.

How they haven’t gotten a noise complaint because of Junhee belting out notes, though. Now that’s the real surprising thing here.

“I’m back.”

“I figured.” Junhee says and Donghun can imagine his smile long before he’s turning to look back over the couch. “It was either you or a _really_ dumb criminal.” It’s less of a smile and more of a shit eating grin.

“Or a really smart one, if they had a key to the apartment.” He argues.

“Dumb if they think Latte is just gonna let some stranger in the place. She hissed at me for five minutes when I wore that avocado mask.”

“I too would’ve hissed at you if I had the capability.”

“It’s good for the skin.”

“You made our room smell like someone’s first attempt at making guacamole.” 

Junhee just sticks his tongue out in response. Maybe because he can’t argue against that point.

“Anyways, I showered like you asked, even washed my hair.” He says before turning back to the television. “I figured I should since you’d probably want to shower when you got back.”

“Yeah, I feel gross.”

“You should probably go get in, then.” Junhee muses. “Because you’re not allowed on the couch until you’re clean.”

That’s fair. He can’t even make a comeback about it because he’d do the same. 

“Get a movie ready while I’m showering.” He instructs. “You get first choice.” 

He can feel Junhee’s glee with the way he’s quickly trying to untangle himself from the blankets. The younger had recently splurged on a bunch of movies, a lot of them with Donghun’s input. Things he hadn’t seen but wanted to. 

It’s fun experiencing movies for the first time with a friend. At this point, he’d wager that he considers Junhee one of his best friends. Which is frankly scary to think about so he instead just nods to himself and rushes down the hall. His haste could be mistaken as being excited to get all the sweat off of him. He likes to perceive it as running from his thoughts, though. 

Their bedroom looks like an organized whirlwind went through it. Everything is neat enough to be presentable but, after living with Junhee, he can tell when things are deliberately placed or thrown around. This is thrown around. Since there’s nothing that poses a tripping threat, he lets it slide. His shower will be quick, so he decides to take his clothes in just so he can change in there and go right to the couch. He doesn’t like having his clothes in the bathroom during long showers because he finds that it gets way too humid to comfortably change. 

To keep that from happening - and to keep Junhee from waiting too long, his shower is no longer than ten minutes. Just enough for him to scrub off and rinse through his hair. He’s too lazy to properly wash it today, and he decides that it doesn’t feel gross enough to warrant it getting washed. 

The smell of fresh rosemary and lime fills the bathroom during and after the shower. It was a scent that Junhee had picked out for him during their last shopping excursion and he’ll admit that it smells a lot better than he thought it would. Drying off, he tugs his shirt on and feels relief when it doesn’t cling to him. 

In a short amount of time he’s done getting dressed. Brushing his hair for a few minutes, he’s finally satisfied enough to put the brush back down. Hanging the towel back up, he leaves the bathroom and tries not to skip down the hallway to the couch. Maybe he lets himself skip a tiny bit. 

Junhee has the movie on the title screen, the same thirty second clip repeating. The other has taken to seemingly muttering it in a constant repetition. 

He smiles and moves to plop on the couch, giving the other just enough time to tuck his feet closer to himself and away from Donghun’s body. 

“Do you want to be in control of the remote?” Donghun asks, swiping the cover off the middle cushion. Ah. The weird alien movie. Not necessarily horror, judging off the cover but...he doesn’t know what genre it’s supposed to be. 

“Nah, I trust you with it.” Junhee hums, passing it over to him. “I trust that you won’t randomly pause it unless you have to.”

He has earned the trust to hold the remote. That is a very sacred honor.

A honor, for example, that Yuchan or Sehyoon do not have. They have terrible habits of rewinding the movie or sitting on the remote and turning things off. So until further notice, they’ve lost their remote privileges. 

“You ready for the movie then?” He asks, smiling. Junhee nods, slumping more and more into the couch and once more throwing his legs onto his lap. That itself is the sign that he was ready. 

Donghun hums in response, pressing play and adjusting the volume before leaning back and letting the movie start. They usually don’t talk during movies unless there were reasons for commentary.

Instead they settle for silence while the movie starts, his hand finding and resting on Junhee’s ankle. 

Their focus goes completely into the movie. It turns out to be a comedy on scary movies, similar to the Scary Movie series. Junhee laughs a lot at the aliens design and Donghun finds himself cackling at the inherently cliche things the movie does. But it works because they twist the concepts just enough to keep it interesting.

About half way through, Junhee starts wiggling around to find a better position. It’s after judging him three separate times that he sighs and removes his hand so Junhee can roll over.

He’s not sure how it took him this long to notice that Junhee is wearing extremely short shorts, but now he does know. Which haunts him a bit. It’s not the first time he’s seen the other wear them, but just being reminded of them is enough to make him want to wither away on the couch.

“You like my ankles, don’t you?”

A startled scoff. At this point it seems more like a startled laugh, but who's going to be able to tell the difference?

“Don’t make me out to be some oldie who swoons at the sight of an ankle.” He says. There’s no way to actually explain this. “But - either way I explain it makes me sound like a weirdo.”

Junhee giggles.

“Don’t explain it then, I’m not complaining.” Junhee hums. 

Well.

Okay.

So with that tidbit, he returns to watching the movie. There’s a scene that has the male lead running down a hallway and he and Junhee actively try to predict what’s waiting for him at the end of it. It turns out that there’s a very oddly placed mirror that allows some good laughter at the ridiculous reaction.

“That’d be me in a horror situation, I think.” Junhee muses.

“That sounds about right.” He chuckles. “I think I’d be the side character that ends up fucking up and still surviving.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” 

The movie wraps up with a very cheesy hint at a sequel. That prospect alone has him excited. As the credits roll, he pats Junhee’s leg. 

“I choose the movie this time, if you need anything go get it now.” He says as he pushes the other’s legs off of him. Junhee makes an offended noise as if he just insulted his whole existence. Which, to be fair, is roughly the same noise Latte makes when she gets pushed off his lap.

Like father like daughter? Daughter like father? Whichever way the phrase is supposed to be said. Before Junhee gets the chance to retaliate he gets off the couch and retrieves the disk before going to scope out the other movies. When he glances back, Junhee is rolling off the couch to go waddle off to the kitchen. 

Choosing the next movie is easy. It’s the movie ‘Your Name’, a movie that he’d only ever heard good things about. Sehyoon said it made him cry and Yuchan said it gave him the inspiration to pursue painting a bit more seriously as a career. So much, in fact, that he’s changing his major from ‘undecided’ to painting. 

Popping the disk in, he walks back to the couch and flops down on it. Claiming the space that Junhee once had, he stretches out with a vague feeling of smugness. When Junhee returns, all he can offer is a shit eating grin.

But, much like the offended noise being a shared thing between him and Latte, so is the habit of trying to reclaim space. Which is how Donghun ends up with Junhee presses between his back and the couch, stubborn and determined to be able to lay down again. It's reminiscent of earlier in the day when he put Latte on Junhee.

The whole situation shouldn’t make him as giddy as it does, but he still tries to be just as stubborn. Which doesn’t work out well.

They’re both forces to be reckoned with when they’re stubborn, but Junhee seems to have made his point. He rests his chin on Donghun’s shoulder, actively scooting down the couch just to be able to do it. He has found his position of comfort now. It’s a test, really. An action to see who will break first.

It sure as hell won’t be him, though. But he has a feeling that Junhee is in this for the long haul, and he forgot how it feels to have the warmth of someone else against him. This is almost cuddling. Almost.

The most stubborn cuddling he’s ever dealt with in all honesty. 

But the movie starts and he’s not going to interrupt it just to try and escape Junhee. This is where they’re going to be until it gets too uncomfortable for one of them.

Within a few minutes Junhee has made himself fully comfortable, repositioning his chin and using his side as an armrest. A corner of the blanket is covering Donghun now from Junhee’s constant shifting. There’s something profoundly comfortable about this. He thought he’d be annoyed by it after a few minutes. But now he’s actually moving up on the couch just enough to let the other lay down more comfortably.

Their couch isn’t the biggest thing in the world. Laying down like this has to be a fine tuned science. Yet they’re already in a position that isn’t uncomfortable by any means. In truth, it actually helps fight off the vague chilliness he feels from the lack of long sleeves. 

It also isn’t sending him into a flustered panic like he thought it would. Which is a win for him and his pride - he doesn’t think he’d be able to come back from doing something embarrassing in front of Junhee.

Your Name is a good movie. His shoulder shakes whenever Junhee laughs at one of the funnier scenes, his heart aches at the sadder ones. It’s a stressful movie as well, some parts making him want to get up and run around the apartment. Second hand embarrassment is his one arguable weakness, but watching a movie with someone else stops him from being able to run away from the situation.

Your Name ends and a new movie begins. They find themselves in the same position. Between the third and fourth movie, Donghun finds himself scavenging for food after realizing that he and Junhee never had a proper meal. They eat cereal with no milk as the live action Jungle Book starts up. 

And at some point it’s reaching past eleven, their movie winding down. But he’s not tired and - upon glancing at how Junhee is still alert despite half shut eyes, neither is the other. Not completely anyway.

“Do you want to go to bed?” He asks, reaching for a piece of the blanket and tossing it over Junhee’s lap. 

“Mm..no.” Junhee murmurs. “I wanna stay up and do stuff with you.”

Hm.

“Another movie?”

Junhee just shakes his head. Well. Movie night has come to a close. Which he’s thankful for because it would’ve been his turn.

“Well. What do you want to do?”

“I wanna do what they did in the last movie.” He yawns, sitting up a bit straighter. “Drive around a city at night and take everything in.”

Hm. That is something he could do. It’s not common that he drives with no real destination but -

Junhee is a good source of entertainment when he’s sleepy. Plus he could fill up for gas and not have to worry about a line.

“Have you never drove around at night with no real destination?” He asks. Despite it not being common - he has done it. Sometimes with his parents when he wants to talk. Or with Sehyoon or Byeongkwan. He’s yet to do it with Yuchan because the poor guy is worn out from the new stress that comes with starting out his university life. But he does plan to take him one day. Made a promise that he would before his graduation. 

The younger hums and shakes his head. 

“Nah. My parents weren’t big on driving unless needing to.” A small huff. “And I wasn’t close enough to anyone in my old college to want anyone to take me around.” He seems to dwell on that for a moment before clearing his throat. “Anyways, we don’t have to if it’s too late out to do it.”

“Junhee, half the fun comes from driving around at night. Especially with emptier streets.” He scoffs, smiling. “I’m down to drive around for an hour or so.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.” A smile. “Go put some shoes on.”

He doesn’t have to tell Junhee twice. The other is already wiggling off of the couch, blanket tripping him up once or twice. After standing up completely, he ditches the blanket in favor of going over to the shoe rack. Donghun can’t help but smile fondly.

“I’m going to get my phone, keys and wallet and then we’ll go. We don’t need jackets since we’ll have the car heater.” He says as he gets up, stretching out his arms before turning the television off. Junhee says something akin to ‘okay’ as he’s heading down the hallway. 

He snatches his things from his bed and stops to pet Latte along the way. She does not seem to really give two shits about whatever antics they’re currently up to. However she does grace him with a few licks to the side of his index finger. Then she’s settling back down without a care in the world.

Patting her on the head once last time, he finally heads off to go tug on a pair of shoes.

“I do need to stop and get gas, if that’s okay.” He says. The other has his shoes on - a pair of slip on Sketchers. Meanwhile Donghun is struggling with laces because, well, his slip ons make driving uncomfortable. He can’t explain why, though. 

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Junhee muses.

Donghun straightens up, glancing at the time on his phone. Just a bit past eleven.

Yeah. Driving for an hour will be good.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

So they brave the colder night just to get to the car. Clad in pajamas and content with life, they huddle into his car and prepare for their drive. Junhee gets dibs on the aux while he adjusts the heater so they don’t get chilly.

All is peaceful as he pulls out of the spot and drives off into the main city. 

When he glances over at Junhee during a red light, the other is smiling with a sleepy expression on his face. Asking if he’s tired, Junhee just hums out a no.

“It’s just, soothing.”

“The drive?”

“Yeah.” A lazy hum. “Plus talking to you.”

He snorts. 

“It’s soothing to talk to you, too.”

The light turns green and he’s off again, Junhee chattering to him as they drive off into the downtown district. 

“Now that I think about it is, it has happened once.”

“Hm?”

“Driving around at night.” Junhee muses. “Once. It happened once.”

“And when was that?”

He can see the way Junhee glances at him. Then the younger is clearing his throat, gaze set straight ahead. 

“I’m sure you’ve heard about my family?” Junhee’s voice is quiet. “I mean - it was kind of everywhere, apparently.”

“Ah..” There it is. “Yeah. Sehyoon and Byeongkwan told me about it shortly after you moved in.” He says, turning down onto a quieter street. “Didn’t tell me much, though. Just that the court case happened.”

Which is...mostly true. Pretty much true.

“Ah.” Junhee sighs. “Well. My sister and dad got in a fight at some big corporate dinner. She was mad because he was trying to force her to take a position in the company and she didn’t want it. He got really loud and obnoxious about it. In the end it somehow devolved into a court case.”

He nods as he signals to get over in a different lane.

“Which - which I guess most people won’t take that route. But we were raised a certain way and my sister, while she was rebellious, was also petulant in many ways. I suppose I am too. Or I was. Either way.” He says thoughtfully. “So she thought she’d flex her power by trying to start shit up in court. I still don’t know why they took the case up. I may not - I may not like my parents. Or see things the way they see it. But I was forced to either stick with them or my sister on it. Broke the whole family into a bunch of petty squabbles. I was in the middle - still am in the middle. I can see both sides. But since my sisters stuck with each other, media also lumped me in since they couldn’t find any evidence of me siding with my parents.”

“Christ.”

“Yeah.” He huffs. “Plus it makes for a better news story. Rich kids betray rich parents. Makes people interested.” 

“Yeah. Apparently it gripped your community pretty well.”

“Of course it did.” He sniffs. “But then somehow the case got dropped. Don’t know how. Don’t even know what the charges were. In truth, whenever they went to court over it, I was at home with my after school tutor. I just remember that the last night - the night the court dropped the case, I had to attend. They drove us around for awhile. My mom and dad, that is. Then they parked in front of mom’s main company building. She pointed at it and said ‘this is your future’. Then we drove home.”

Wow. Sparkling future.

“Is that around the time you started realizing that you didn’t want that life style?”

“Kind of. I remember looking at the building and thinking of how miserable I’d be there.”

Donghun hums thoughtfully as he turns into a gas station, neon signs filtering through the night sky.

“I’m glad you realized that you wanted something different.” He says as he parks the car. “And I’m thankful that you trust me enough to talk to me about your family and stuff.”

“You’re a trustworthy person, Donghun.” Junhee says, leaning his head against the window as he pulls up to the pump. “And you’re one of the few people who actually know about my family in general. Most people don’t care enough to even try and get close to me.”

“Well I consider it an honor, you know.”

Junhee scoffs.

“It’s an honor to be your friend.” He insists. “It really is, Junhee.”

“I’m glad to be considered your friend.”

And really, that’s all he needs to hear at the moment. He beams brightly after he stops the car, reaching over the middle console to ruffle Junhee’s hair. Junhee just smiles at him and leans into the touch. It’s nothing special, but.

But. 

It’s something.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello~~
> 
> Notes:  
> \- This story issssssssssss almossssst done...only a few more months left of it, I think. Which is kind of amazing and yet also horrifying because I've been working on it for so long? But I'm going to get to work on other stories so I think it's ending will be a great thing.  
> \- This chapter was supposed to be out five days ago but I got busy (and kinda lazy tbh).  
> \- I don't have much to say other than that tbh...thank you to everyone who has read 'Pack Of Mavericks'! The response it got was better than I was expecting.  
> \- Oh, I do have a twitter [now](https://twitter.com/etherealjunhee)! That's new. In the future, updates and such will be posted there. For now I'm still only on every so often and rt things once in a blue moon.  
> \- I do hope you guys enjoy this, I think my steam for this story is starting to run out which makes me sad since I love it so much..; w ;

His parents, thankfully, give him fair warning when they’re going to be down. So it gives him time to let everyone know that they _need_ to all have dinner at his apartment. Well. He doesn’t have to notify Junhee. Which is both a blessing and a curse, really.

The younger has been worrying over first impressions and it’d be adorable if Donghun didn’t know that Junhee was raised to be like this.

“They’ll like you just fine, Junhee.” Donghun repeats for what he feels like is the umpteenth time that morning. “You still have tonight and most of tomorrow.”

“But if I make a fool out of my-”

“That’s normal. They’re _lawyers_. You accidentally tripping over your own feet will be more endearing than half the things they’ve seen from clients.” He really doesn’t know how reassuring that really is, but Junhee does finally settle down onto his bed next to him.

Donghun had taken refuge on his bed after a certain furry friend of his decided that a hairball was the perfect way to greet them as they got back from the grocery store. Which was not what he wanted to do. So now his whole bedspread is getting washed and Junhee is kind enough to let him sulk on his bed while he paces a hole into their floor. Latte was wise enough to stay on the other side of the room, tucked between the narrow gap under his bed.

She knows what she did.

Today, as a whole, has been a weird one.

Latte’s hairball, Junhee’s pacing and worrying, Sehyoon and Byeongkwan texting him “DONGHUN” in all caps with no replies after he messaged them back, Yuchan sending him a very vague and very cryptic video of his hair tucked up under a beanie.

He wonders if he has somehow slipped into a parallel universe. Instead of being worried that his parents will embarrass him by pulling out baby photos, he now has to worry about the four dumbasses he calls his friends. In all honesty, he doesn’t know how he wasn’t more worried about them until now. 

He hopes everything goes smoothly tomorrow. He’s sure that it will. It’ll be okay. All of them have at least heard stories of his parents or met them. Like how Byeongkwan and Sehyoon met them Sophomore year. Except that had been at a restaurant and not his apartment. The first thirty minutes of that had been awkward until Sehyoon unknowingly cracked a joke that broke the ice.

And he will always be thankful for that.

Junhee sprawls out behind him with a dramatic sigh.

“You’ll be okay.” He sighs out. “I promise.”

“Promise?”

“Yep.” He nods. “Have I ever broken my promises?”

There’s some odd noises behind him. But then there’s ultimately an agreement as identified by the lilting tone that follows. It’s about all he can expect from him at this point in time. So instead he lays down next to him, laying on his side so there’s actually room to do so without falling off. Junhee turns his head to grin at him brightly. 

“I suppose you haven’t broken any promises.” Junhee finally says. “You always do manage to make amends.”

Damn right he does. Instead of boasting, he reaches out to flick his other’s forehead. Junhee scrunches his face in protest before reaching out to flick him back. That’s fair and well deserved. 

“But seriously, don’t worry about it. Instead worry about the fact that Yuchan seems to have gotten his hair dyed.”

“Oh god.” 

“Exactly.” Donghun chuckles. Junhee seems to be haunted by the fact. “Or the fact that I haven’t heard back from Sehyoon or Byeongkwan.”

“Still?”

“Still.” He pouts dramatically. “But it’s probably nothing too serious since Sehyoon usually calls if it’s, like, super serious. One of them probably just lost their dorm key or something and are expecting me to help somehow.”

Junhee lets out a bark of laughter. Then they settled into comfortable positions, sometimes glancing at each other and other times glancing at the ceiling. It was a bit spooky, doing things in sync without meaning too. It also made the sneaky glances all the more awkward. But Junhee had a bright smile the whole time, so Donghun’s embarrassment couldn’t rage as much as it wanted to. It was a blessing.

After trying so hard to not worry about how he acts around Junhee, he’s finally able to just lay there without overthinking everything. Months ago he would’ve been worried about something in his braces, or being too close or -

A lot of things. Everything. Everything would be a worry. Sehyoon would probably still be consoling him on needing to ‘take things in stride’. He’s not sure if this is exactly what Sehyoon meant, but he thinks he’d be proud of him either way. 

Junhee finally rolls onto his side, staring at him intently.

“What?”

“Oh.” Junhee seems to shrug one shoulder. “Just thinking.”

“About?”

“How lucky I am to have you as a friend, that’s all.” He says honestly. “I never thought that you were supposed to be friends with your roommates.”

He lets out a startled laugh.

“What’s caused you to get sappy all of the sudden?” Donghun asks, baffled. “And you weren’t friends with your roommates?”

He feels like they’ve discussed that before but he could be wrong. Donghun knows that his old college roommates had been mentioned once or twice, but never in detail. But school could also finally be frying his brain and making him forget any other encounter. 

“Just thinking.” The other shrugs. “But nah, we were - we were tolerant of each other. Hung out a few times. But only when they didn’t have anyone else to hang out with, y’know? That kind of friendship.” He explains thoughtfully, not really seeming hurt about it. “But I can’t blame them - I really didn’t know how to act after being around like...my parents. It was kind of a culture shock.”

“Understandable. The college experience was probably hard to get used to, huh?”

“Very hard.” He agrees. “But I think I’m doing good now.”

“You are.” Donghun smiles. “I wouldn’t be able to tell that you were once a stick in the mud.”

The younger giggles at that and Donghun thinks he’s done his job. So he moves to roll off the bed, straightening his clothes out. 

“I’m going to go check on the laundry. Want to follow?”

“Nah. I’m going to shower. It’s actually pretty late, now that I’m thinking about it.” Junhee muses, glancing at his phone to take in the time. 

Donghun clicks his tongue curiously and Junhee somehow understands, turning the bright screen towards him. He winces, taking in the time and making a startled little noise. 

“It’s really already ten thirty?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty late.”

“Considering that you went to bed at three -”

“It’s late.” Junhee repeats as if trying to convince himself of the fact. Donghun can’t help but let out a snort.

He makes a noise of agreement in attempt to keep the other from trying to explain why ten thirty is now considered late when he considered it early just last night. Because, really, Junhee would find a way to explain it to him. The notion of him actually sitting around to listen is horrifying. With that in mind, he scoots closer and closer to the door with a shit eating grin before breaking away from Junhee’s rambling. There’s a startled ‘hey’ from the bedroom, but then a ‘be safe’ follows suit, sounding amused.

He’s just going down to the laundry room. The most dangerous thing there is stepping in gum. 

The real challenge is leaving, seeing as Latte seems insistent on going with him. She keeps walking over his feet as he tugs his shoes on, walks over to the door and returns just to sit in front of him tormentingly. Then she repeats the pattern. 

By the time he’s heading out, she sticks her head in the doorway and he has to as non-suspiciously as possible shoo her back inside. He’s lucky that the hallway is clear right now, because she seems absolutely determined based off how she’s peeking just barely through the door crack. But soon enough she’s backing up and he’s swiftly closing the door to cut off her chances. 

Donghun should not feel this successful for outsmarting a cat. Yet here he is, walking down the hall with his head held high. If that’s all he needed for an ego boost, he should’ve gotten a cat himself like two years ago. Then he would’ve been super confident in himself. That train of thought is ridiculous. Stupid, even. 

But still.

It would’ve been a good theory to test out.

He runs into a few people in the elevator. A girl determined to go find some good rice krispy treats, her friend who says that she ‘knows a place’, a guy that seems like he hasn’t slept in a week or - alternatively - has slept for the last week and is just now learning how to be a human. It’s an interesting little trio that he’s stepped into, but the elevator down is short and he’s not with them long. They all go their separate ways; the girls leave the complex, he heads towards the laundry area and the guy...stays in the elevator, seemingly realizing he forgot to press the button to the floor he wanted to go to. Poor guy just seems to be having a rough night.

There are a few laundry machines still going strong when he steps in - but he has to deal with a dryer. He collects his basket from where he left it - too lazy to haul it back up the first time he came down here. Plus the students were pretty good at keeping their hands off other’s stuff, so he felt safe leaving it here. Especially when it’s late. 

He goes to the middle dryer on the right side, smiles at the blinking ‘done’ on the top of it. Plopping the laundry basket onto the ground, he pops open the dryer and starts unloading all his blankets into the basket. They’re still warm and he’s ecstatic at the thought of burying his face into a pillow case that smells like sea salt and lavender. Which is yet another combination he never expected to have.

Shutting the machine shut and hoisting the basket up and pressing it against his hip, he takes his leave. He’s pretty sure he can hear the lobby heater chug along for a few seconds before stopping.

So he really, really hopes that doesn’t mean that the heating just gave out on them. 

But it wouldn’t surprise him, he’s been complaining about the heater in their apartment on and off the last few nights. He’d wake up to cold toes _or_ a cold Junhee wrapping himself up tighter in his sheets. 

Well. A day without heating wouldn’t kill them. Inconvenient, sure. But not the worst. Of course it’d happen when dinner is happening tomorrow, though. Because that’s just the luck he has.

So he prays that it hasn’t kicked the bucket and heads back up to their floor. Part of him is looking out for the one guy from earlier. He just wants to see if he’s made it wherever he’s trying to go. But he doesn’t spy him on his floor and the rim of the basket is digging into his hip so he’ll just assume that the guy has arrived at his destination. 

Getting into the apartment turns into a hassle because of the basket. It clatters against the door frame unpleasantly, ringing way too loud to be comfortable. He wrestles with the damned thing for a solid minute as he makes his way in. He’s very thankful for having the ability to do that, Latte nowhere in sight. Shuffling to get his shoes off, he nearly trips when trying to walk over his own discarded shoe. This is why Junhee told him to be careful, it all makes sense now. He’s cursed him. 

Cursed by his own roommate, a tragic story. 

He snorts at how dumb the thought is before he continues further into the apartment. The first stop is the couch to set the basket down, the second a trip to the kitchen to grab a water bottle. He returns to the basket and plops the unopened water into it before picking it up and continuing to their room. 

Junhee is nestled into his bed, sheet thrown over his frame as he scrolls through something on his phone. He peeks over at Donghun as he enters, nodding in greeting.

“Have you heard the heater cycle on or off?” Donghun asks as he sets the basket by his bed, placing the water on his nightstand. Then he’s sorting through the laundry to start assembling his bed.

“It was on when I went into the shower, but was off when I came out. Why?”

“I heard the heater in the lobby turn off randomly as I was heading back here.” He says. “I’m hoping it didn’t just give out on us.”

Junhee grunts.

“We’ll find out if we wake up shivering from the cold.” Junhee jokes. “But I seriously hope it hasn’t.”

“Me too. But that’d be just our luck, huh? It going out the night before my parents visit?” He hums, smoothing out the sheets. “It wouldn’t be too much of a problem, though. They have to use the stove tomorrow so at least the apartment would heat up from that.”

“Fair point.” Junhee agrees. “I think we’ll be okay no matter what.”

Yeah, he’s inclined to agree.

They talk about random shit as he makes his bed. Latte stares at him warily before he decides to bend down and scratch behind her ears. It’s his hopeful way of showing that he’s not mad about the hairball or her attempt to escape. 

But he doesn’t want to deal with a hairball again. It wasn’t _that_ bad, but it made him feel icky enough to have to clean every piece on his bed. Junhee had laughed and said it was a reasonable response while also profusely apologizing. He’s never heard more panicked laughter than in the that span of five minutes.

The younger has seemingly worn himself out from all the stressing. When he glances back a few separate times, Junhee seems to sink further and further into his pillows. And then he just stops responding half way through a conversation about the different ways he was taught to fold shirts. Donghun glances back and sees Junhee completely nestled into his blankets, face obscured by the wrinkles and folds of the comforter, scrunched outline showing how he’s curled up underneath the covers. 

His heart aches at how cute it all is.

“Goodnight, Junhee.” He murmurs gently. Setting to finish his bed in silence, he struggles with the comforter and almost wishes that the other was awake just to help him out with it.

But no. This was relatively early for Junhee to be sleeping. Donghun would prefer to keep it that way.

After fluffing up the pillows, he nods proudly to himself. Then he’s putting the laundry basket away in its designated corner - located by the temperature reader in the living room. It’s slow progress to get ready for bed, changing while trying to be silent. He doesn’t even close the bathroom door all the way just to be extra careful.

When he settles later, he’s a bit upset that he’s made his bed just to mess it up. But his back also aches, so. His back comes before the aesthetic of his bed. He can hear Latte’s paws pattering across the wood until a soft thump and panicked scrambling registers that she’s clambering onto Junhee’s bed.

“Goodnight, Latte.” He laughs quietly into the darkness, rolling over onto his side to turn on his phone while avoiding the possibility of any light filtering over to Junhee’s side of the room. Even if it was on the lowest setting. 

Huh.

Byeongkwan texted him back.

 **(11:54 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_o hey i never saw your response lol_

He scoffs. Of course he didn’t. Byeongkwan was very prone to just ignore notifications.

 **(11:55 PM) Donghun:**  
_Glad to see that you’re alive, but that doesn’t answer why you messaged me ‘DONGHUN!!!!’ with no explanation._

 **(11:55 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_LMAO!! anyways.... me & sehyoon May have kissed,,,maybe,_

Oh thank the lord. So now their relationship can actually progress now. Unless they made it awkward. Then he’ll be suffering again.

 **(11:58 PM) Donghun:**  
_And...how did that happen?_

 **(11:59 PM) Byeongkwan:**  
_with our lips :0_

Infuriating.

 **(12:00 AM) Donghun:**  
_Don’t make me come over there._

 **(12:00 AM) Byeongkwan:**  
_omg no sehyoon just went to bed so he can be well rested for dinner tomorrow ;v;_

The three dots indicate that Byeongkwan is typing a second message, so Donghun hops over to Twitter to scroll through his timeline while he waits. He drops a like to Yuchan’s photo of...what looks to be a new jacket? He can’t tell. It’s a pretty blurry photo.

If Yuchan allowed it, he’d pitch in to get him a new phone. One with a camera that has more than three pixels.

He sees the notification for Byeongkwan pop up on the top of his screen. So he takes a breath and taps it to pull their conversation up.

 **(12:04 AM) Donghun:**  
_so sehyoon and i were kinda just fuckin around in the studio while he was messing with some tunes yeah? and we just got to talking and at one point i left to get us snacks. cause im not about to let us STARVE in there u know? SO im dropping a pack of gummy worms in front of him and my dumbass isn’t thinking so i just!!! peck him on the cheek as he’s saying thank you!!!! which sends both of us into a giggling panic but I WAS ALSO starting to write my will in my head._

He’s still typing. There’s no escape to this. 

**(12:05 AM) Byeongkwan:**  
_so it’s awks. cause he’s not saying anything and im like, goin thru all the scenarios!!! then he kinda glances over after like half an hour like ‘youre pretty quiet’ and im just mentally like!!! no shit!!!! but then he catches me off guard!!! and asks if he can like,, kiss me and i kinda just let out a startled ‘yes’ without processing it and then he actually does it the mad lad but ANYWAYS now we’re like. Here Now._

Donghun snorts and sets his phone down just to scrub his hands down his face. Christ. He forgot how panicked the two got when literally any progress of their relationship happens. Though part of him does feel proud about Sehyoon doing something. Even if it’s awkward. But that seems to be their whole style.

 **(12:07 AM) Byeongkwan:**  
_i told u the most awkward yet amazing moment of my Adult life pls respond_

 **(12:09 AM) Donghun:**  
_I mean...I’m proud of Sehyoon for stepping up for your dumbasses. Otherwise we’d still be in a pre-kiss world. Does that make you guys a thing yet?_

 **(12:09 AM) Byeongkwan:**  
_oh no we haven’t discussed relationship status yet!!! we were too sleepy and awkward to do that lmao_

He’s going to yell. Or he would. If he wasn’t in an apartment with a sleeping Junhee. Donghun ponders not even continuing the conversation, but then he’d feel guilty. Instead he just lays there to think for a few minutes.

 **(12:13 AM) Donghun:**  
_Please tell me that you guys are going to talk about it soon. Please._

 **(12:14 AM) Byeongkwan:**  
_we’ll see!! but for now im gonna rest that way im in perfect condition to act like i know law terms in order to impress ur parents :P gnight!_

 **(12:14 AM) Donghun:**  
_I...goodnight._

They’re going to be stressful even when they finally get together. That’s all he can assume at this point. He’ll take that over them being stressful while pining, though. 

He pulls open Sehyoon’s chat with him even though he knows he’s asleep.

 **(12:19 AM) Donghun:**  
_Talked with Kwan. Good job. Please actually talk about all of it instead of dancing around each other again._

A pause.

 **(12:19 AM) Donghun:**  
_I’m proud of you._

There. Done. He lets his phone go dark a few minutes later after he sees Yuchan do a ‘goodnight’ snapchat to the group chat, hair still tucked under a hat. He takes a picture but it arguably comes out very dark and barely has his face visible, but he sends it with a goodnight message all the same.

Laying his phone down so the screen presses against the sheets, he rolls onto his back and stares at the ceiling. Yuchan’s done something with his hair, Byeongkwan and Sehyoon are finally progressing their relationship, his parents are coming down and -

He glances over at Junhee’s side of the room.

And he’s figuring things out. Well. He’s figured things out.

How interesting that he’s ended up stalling at the same place that Sehyoon and Byeongkwan have been at for the last few months. Except he doesn’t know if his feelings are reciprocated or not. Which he could just ask but that prospect alone is horrifying. Now he gets why Sehyoon was the jittery mess he was whenever the topic came up, or why Byeongkwan always laughed it off since he didn’t know if Sehyoon felt the same way.

Is he as obvious with Junhee as they are with each other? 

Maybe he’ll pull one of them aside during dinner and ask. Even if he has a small inkling on what the answer will be. 

Donghun lets himself drift off to the thought of being able to progress his relationship further. He’s trying hard to be optimistic about this whole thing. 

By the time he’s blinking awake, it’s because Junhee is squirming in his bed, seemingly trying to wrap himself up tighter. It’s a spectacle to behold, but when he glances at his phone and sees that it’s six in the morning, he decides its not worth being awake for it. It’s when he sticks his arm out from his own cocoon and feels the chill that he frowns and reels his arm back in. Whether the heater is alive or not is up for debate, but it’s still fucking cold.

Junhee ceases wiggling just to let out a low whine of frustration. 

“Cold?” He asks groggily, mind trying to piece together everything in these early hours. 

Junhee stills, face slowly peeking out from the blankets around him. There’s a slight nod through the low light. What was he exactly planning to do with that information? He racks his brain for a few moments for a solution.

After a moment he finally starts unwrapping the blankets around him with clumsy purpose. He holds up the edge of them, scrunching his face.

“We can huddle together for warmth if you want.” He says. He’s wondering how much he’ll regret this later but for now he’s going to just roll with it. 

Junhee seems to be considering it. For a moment he’s convinced that the younger won’t, but then the blankets are being kicked off. It’s a quick motion, Junhee ungracefully rolling out of his bed and scurrying over to his. He doesn’t even register that the two of them are under the covers until all is said and done and he has to back himself up against the wall. 

“This isn’t how I expected this morning to go.” Junhee murmurs tiredly when Donghun carefully drapes the blankets back over them completely.

“It’s not weird, is it?”

Silence. Then a slow, groggy hum.

“No, no I don’t think it’s weird.” Junhee finally admits. “It’s warm.”

“If it gets too warm, just let me know and I’ll pull the comforter off.” 

“Mhm.” Comes a tired reply. 

Donghun is now stuck in this position. He doesn’t know what to do. Does he lay an arm over Junhee’s middle or keep it on his side? Does he move closer to Junhee or keep giving him room? This isn’t really traditional cuddling, and he said they’d ‘huddle’ not cuddle so -

Maybe this was really a bad idea. 

He could rescind the invite, kick Junhee out of his bed. He doesn’t think Junhee would be hurt by it. 

However Junhee seems to be at peace. He can only see the back of his head but he knows peacefulness when he sees it. Ultimately he will live with this decision, much like when Latte falls asleep on him and he lives in that position until she gets up and moves. Once again fueling his conspiracy that Junhee and Latte were a part of a partial hivemind. 

The combination of Junhee seemingly dozing off again and the early hours of the morning invade his brain until he can barely keep his eyes open. Tucking his head back into his pillow, he lets himself doze off again with the intent of sleeping until his alarm goes off at ten.

Except he doesn’t.

The next time he’s brought back to the land of the living is the shifting of the mattress and an obnoxious ringtone by his head. An annoying one.

Shit. 

He’s wide awake in no more than six seconds, hurriedly feeling for his phone and unlocking it so he can accept the call. 

Junhee is glaring at him through a crack in between the folds of the blanket. He reaches out to pat what he assumes is his side sympathetically.

“Hello?”

“Good morning sunshine! Almost noon, really!” His mom says brightly, voice way too chipper to hear this early. “It’s eleven thirty.”

He lets out a guttural noise that is a valiant attempt at a hello, hand resting on top of Junhee as the younger buries his whole head under a portion of the pillow.

“Morning, mom.” He mumbles out tiredly. “I slept through my alarm.”

“That's okay.” She says with a soft laugh. “I just wanted to make sure that we’re still going to get to spend an afternoon with you.”

Oh. Oh fuck. 

That is a thing he promised. 

“Of course.” He says, hoping he doesn’t sound as startled as he currently feels. “What time do you want me to come get you?”

“We were thinking around one? Maybe grab some lunch and we can walk around the mall or a park until it’s time to get the food and head over to your apartment.”

“Sounds -” He cuts himself off with a yawn. “- sounds good.”

His mom chatters for a few minutes before finally hanging up. Junhee is still grumbling at his side, more nonsensical than anything.

“It was my mom.” He responds tiredly. “I can’t not answer it.”

“You can turn your volume down, though.” He whines. “The ring tone was so loud.”

“I need that to wake me up.” He says with a soft laugh. “Don’t make me push you out of bed.”

“Mean.”

Donghun just grins and stares up at the ceiling for a few minutes. He knows he should get up, shower, get dressed, eat - every other mundane thing he has to do before driving out to get his parents. His phone buzzes with a message from his mom giving him their hotel address. 

“I should get up.” He sighs out after a few minutes. “I promised to spend the afternoon with my parents.”

“Mm.” Junhee replies.

He’s suddenly struck by just how close they are to each other. It’s almost a bit overwhelming. Yet..he’s surprisingly comforted by how close they are? It’s nice. 

“Will you make breakfast if I go shower?” Donghun asks. The blankets move as Junhee pushes his head up from under the covers, blinking at him wearily.

“If you’re fine with omelettes.”

“I’m fine with omelettes.”

“Then I can make breakfast.”

He laughs, patting his side to motivate him to get up. Junhee groans, rolling off the bed and stumbling to his feet. Then he’s shuffling out of the room, rubbing at his eyes.

Donghun can’t help but immediately regret it, wanting nothing more than to push his luck to twelve thirty before panicking and getting himself together in less than half an hour. But responsibility wins. Responsibility will always unfortunately win with him, unless he decides to say ‘fuck it’ at any given point.

The motivation to shower hits when he hears the clattering of pans in the kitchen. If he wants to see the kitchen still intact, he’ll hurry and keep Junhee company.

(Mainly because Junhee is shit at making omelettes, so he’s not sure why he suggested them in the first place. It’s not that they taste awful - it’s just that they never really look like omelettes.)

Showering is quick and efficient, he needs to smell good but also needs to save time. As much as he’s excited to see his parents, he’s also just really aching to sit down and enjoy a breakfast before getting hauled off to walk around a mall. 

Clean and dressed a mere fifteen minutes later, he’s smoothing down a shirt that still clings to some of the wet spots caused by his dripping hair. The place smells good, though, so he’s not too upset.

Junhee is standing in the kitchen fighting a mass of yellow and green in the pan with a spatula. He finally gets it folded over on itself, letting out a particularly proud noise. Breakfast and a show. 

“Proud of you.” He says. Junhee seems to have grown accustomed to his random appearances judged by how he just huffs dramatically. “I don’t get why you decided on omelettes when you struggle so much with them.”

“You liked them the last time I made them.” He replies. “Even though they looked a bit ugly.”

“That’s definitely a word for them.” Donghun snorts, moving to stand by the other to look at the pan. “They actually look folded this time.”

“Shut up.” Junhee pouts. “I worked hard on this.”

“I know you did.” He reassures, though he can’t quite hide the teasing lilt in his voice. 

The younger just shoos him off with the vague threat that he’s going to sneeze into his omelette. Which, arguably, is not the worst thing someone could do to an omelette. He takes a quick moment to ruffle his hair before scampering off to their dining table. He sits down in his usual chair, glancing around the living room. 

Junhee appears after a few minutes, moving to set their plates down.

“Did you sneeze in it?”

“Nah.”

Coward.

Still he’s more than happy to dig in, knowing that he’s probably going to have to eat something light while out with his parents. They can’t expect him to eat much anyways if they’re planning to bring _and_ cook a lot of food. He’s not sure how they plan to manage that when their apartment is as small as it is, but his parents are resourceful.

As if on cue, Junhee looks at him.

“So..how exactly is this evening going to work?” The younger asks. “It’s not like we have a lot of space..”

He chews thoughtfully, staring off past Junhee at Latte. She’s taken to looming around the corner like some little beast, staring as if that would be incentive to give her food.

“Remember how we had that pizza get together with the others?”

“Yeah?”

“We’re just basically doing that, but with my parents. So they’re bringing a few extra chairs.” 

“Ah..” Junhee trails off, nodding. “So it’s not formal?”

“No.” He says with a soft laugh. “God, no. My parents don’t do formal unless necessary. I won’t be surprised if they come to my graduation in just casual street wear.”

Junhee snorts at the visual. But after saying that, he does look a lot less tense about it.

“Are you still worried?”

“Kind of.”

“Just think of them as somewhat older university students.”

“I’m not sure if that helps.”

It takes another five to ten minutes of him actually describing what his parents are like for Junhee to finally feel like he won’t somehow offend them in less than five seconds. It’s redundant at this point, but he can understand the paranoia. True stress would be having to meet Junhee’s parents - and when he makes a joke about that Junhee laughs a little and comments about how even thinking of going back home would be too stressful for him.

Which insinuates that Junhee just doesn’t plan to go home at any point in time. 

They finish their brunch in relative silence, favoring stuffing their faces to talking. Junhee offers to clean up, which lets Donghun get ready to go pick his family up.

“The next time I come back will be with my parents in tow.” He says as he tucks his shirt into his jeans. “But the others will probably show up at any point in the afternoon. Just send a message in the group chat saying to text you when they get here.”

“Okay.” A soft hum. “I’ll probably clean up a bit.”

“Alright. I’ll see you in a few hours, Junhee.”

“See ya.”

Then he’s out of the apartment a mere moments later, pulling out his phone to text his mom that he’s on his way. She responds with a cute ‘:)!’ - which he would laugh about if it were anyone other than her. Putting his phone in his back pocket while going down the elevator. A few people are wandering around when he gets to the lobby, offering a few hellos to the ones he recognizes.

He blares some of his favorite songs as he drives off campus, Google Maps reading directions to him over the music. He’s not going to be able to do this with his parents around, and he knows that at the very least one of them will try to act like they know where to go. They don’t know the layout that well in comparison to him, seeing as he has lived here for the last four years.

The group chat gets active for about five minutes of his drive, cutting through his music as he takes the final turns to pull to a stop in front of the hotel. He scrolls through the messages really quick just to make sure Junhee’s texted them - which he has - then he’s tapping out a message to his parents that he’s there. Of course it doesn’t seem like it was necessarily needed judging by how his parents are already out the hotel doors by the time he’s putting his phone down. 

Donghun makes sure that the doors are unlocked that way they can get in. His mom waves to him through the window and he offers a small wave back. There seems to be a short little squabble between who sits up front with him. But he’s never going to involve himself in that, so he just sits and waits patiently. 

His dad ends up being the one after a heated game of rock paper scissors. 

And thus begins his afternoon with his parents. It’s great, really. The first thirty minutes of being in their presence is filled with ‘I missed you’ and all related phrases. Those then turn into his having to describe every somewhat interesting moment that has happened in the last..while. It really has been a long time since they’ve seen each other and his parents are insistent on hearing about his average day. And his school life. And his grades. And friends.

They’re just very excited about all of this. Not that he can blame them. Merely mentioning the dinner later that day has his dad raving about the desserts he has made or plans on making. Apparently he’s just got tupperware upon tupperware worth of ingredients in the hotel fridge. The same with his mom.

“So will we need to swing by a store?”

“Not that we know of, we were very meticulous in the packing process.” His mom chirps from the backseat. 

Of course they were. They wouldn’t be his parents if they weren’t.

Their main stop becomes the mall purely because his mom has never gotten to be in it. His dad has since he was the one that helped him move down while his mom was busy on a case. Going to the place feels very different with them compared to his friends. 

When they first step in, he can smell the strong hint of pretzels in the air. His mom seems to be thrilled at such a simple concept as a mall, but he’s also aware that they don’t live near any at all back at his house. She’s also insistent that they get some food court food since their gourmet meal will be tonight.

“Is it gourmet if some of us are sitting on the floor?”

“Sitting on the floor doesn’t make food taste bad.” She responds quickly. “Do not confuse gourmet and classy, the two don’t always have to go hand in hand.” She tsks.

Valid. Maybe he should text that to Junhee. But first he’s got to eat _again_. Maybe he’ll just get a medium box of fries from the fry shop in the food court. Possibly garlic. Maybe. 

His parents are interested in walking around a bit more before going to the food court, though. Dad wants to see the small discount bookstore and his mom wants to see the ‘as seen on tv’ store that he’s sent pictures of. The tragic thing is that both of those stores are in different directions, so he has to walk the whole span of the first floor no matter where they go first.

They start with the ‘as seen on tv’ store first under some flimsy statement that it’s only fair since dad got to sit in the front with him on the way there. It makes enough sense for his dad to go along with it, so he leads the way. 

It’s thirty minutes of wandering around the store, his mom showing off a bunch of items. Some that would be practical under the right circumstances, some that would probably accidentally electrocute the user. Really just a mixed bag of supplies. It’s around the time that she’s trying to pitch a ‘hand-burger’ mold to them that his dad ushers them out of the store. 

The bookstore is a lot better in comparison, since he gets to actually read through a few books he’s had his eyes on. He reads the first page of a few of them before tucking one under his arm with the intent to purchase it. His mom seems to be quite fond of the fantasy book she’s been looking through, so he offers to buy it for her. He also offers to buy dad the cookbook he’s been looking at. It’s only fair - he hasn’t had many chances to actually buy things for his parents. Of course they insist that they can pay for it themselves but -

He buys them anyway by cutting a deal that they can pay for the food. 

So they walk off to the food court with the bag of books tightly in his hand. His dad offers to sit down at a table, telling his mom to get ‘whatever she’s getting’. His mom rolls her eyes dramatically, nudging Donghun to follow along as he hands the books over to his dad for safe keeping.

“Your dad has never liked ordering off the menu.” She sighs, smiling. “He’s lucky we have the same tastes.”

“You are.” He jokes. “But I get why, I always feel rushed when ordering take out. I don’t want to hold up the line.”

“Hm.” 

She passes over some money so he can go get what he wants, scoffing playfully when he mentions the fry stand. He can’t help it - their fries are good and he doesn’t want to fill up too much when he’s going to have home cooking in a few hours.

His mom seems to have the same sentiment, because by the time they’re all at the table, she’s picked out simple sandwiches for her and dad. Donghun ended up going with red pepper fries because they were new on the menu and he’d be damned if he was going to miss out on them. 

The chatter of the food court is good white noise as they eat. Conversation fills the gaps here and there, but ultimately it’s a rather silent affair. A time to be close to each other but not actively talk. So he nibbles on fries while his parents eat. After about fifteen minutes, he takes out his phone to check on everything.

Byeongkwan and Junhee are with each other at the moment, judging by how Byeongkwan’s latest snapchat is him in their apartment. Then Sehyoon is getting coffee and Yuchan has sent a cheery ‘on my way over’ text to the group chat. He replays Byeongkwan’s snapchat just for the fun of it and notices how the living room looks tidied up. This doesn’t surprise him, Junhee probably wanted things to look nice.

He focuses his attention away from his phone after his dad asks him a question about school. He has to give a run down on the schools lay out, though he doesn’t think it matters much since he’s going to be the one leading them everywhere.

“And you’re sure your kitchen can handle all the things we have to cook?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s fine if we bring in extra chairs?”

“Yes.” He nods. “There’s nothing to worry about. The school doesn't really care much, they encourage parents to spend holidays with their students.”

Wrapping up their meals, they head out to loop around the second floor for a bit to walk off the food they ate. He checked his phone periodically, humming to himself. 

“It’s just past three thirty, now.” He comments. “Want to head over to the hotel to get everything?”

His parents make murmurs of agreement as he nods and sends a text out to Junhee. 

**(3:39 PM) Donghun:**  
_On my way to the hotel to pick up the stuff for tonight. See you in about an hour?_

 **(3:40 PM) Junhee:**  
_Alright <3\. Yuchan got here about twenty minutes ago - I think you’ll find his hair to be....a choice._

He doesn’t like the sound of that.

Donghun smiles at the screen before shutting it off and moving toward the escalators. 

By the time he’s driving to the hotel, he entertains his parents by asking what kinds of food they plan to make. Of course they’re excited to tell him all about it. 

Nothing notably eventful happens with the next forty five minutes. He gets them to their hotel, parks in the parking lot and helps them put tote bags with tupperware into the back seat where his dad is sitting this time around. They manage to cram the two folding butterfly chairs into the trunk. It takes a good ten minutes with his parents trying to reorganize the bags. Which is ridiculous. 

“You have drinks at your place, right?” His dad asks after all is said and done, them heading off back towards the campus.

“Yeah. Me and Junhee went out and picked some stuff up.” He says as he turns down the main city street. “We figured we’d provide the beverages since you’re providing the food.”

“You’re also providing the company.” His mom comments. “You’ve got a good group of friends.”

“Yeah I do.” He agrees. “But that reminds me - Junhee was worrying over his first impression.”

His mom makes a quizzical noise at that.

“He’s from a very rich background. I don’t think he quite understands casual get togethers just yet.” Donghun explains. “I told him you guys are cool like twenty times.”

“I’d like to think we’re cool.”

“You are.”

“We’ll do our best to try and not scare him.” His dad chuckles from the back seat. He knows they won’t - it’s just Junhee that he has to worry about, really.

He should’ve told Byeongkwan or one of the others to convince him of that. That thought also reminds him to tell his parents that they’d be meeting Yuchan for the first time too and that he has no idea what the other has done to his hair. All that he knows is that he’s done _something_.

They get to the campus just a few minutes after five, driving down the quiet road to the apartments with lo-fi playing at his dads request.

“Your school looks so empty.” His mom says.

“People usually scatter during breaks.” 

Usually. She just nods as he turns into a vacant parking spot, turning his car off and clearing his throat.

“I’ll get the bags if you get the chairs?” He offers. His parents agree as they climb out and he pops the trunk.

Donghun sighs and inhales deeply. He’s not sure how this night will go in terms of awkwardness, but he has a feeling that everyone is ready for a home cooked meal. So he gets out of the car, shutting his door and opening the passenger door to grab the bags. It’s amazing how hefty they are considering that his parents packed ‘light’.

The definition of that word seems to be different for both parties. He knows some of it just needs to be heated up again while other things need to be cooked completely - he just hopes they don’t burn the kitchen down from trying to be fancy and tossing food around in their pans. They don’t need dinner and a show with a bonus evacuation of their whole building. 

It’s pure luck that they can get everything up in one trip. The three of them arrive at the apartment without further interruptions, knocking on the door after setting one of the totes down. For a second there’s no answer and he’s wondering if maybe they didn’t hear -

Nope. The door starts to open. They’re just slow. He catches a glance of Byeongkwan just beyond the crack before it opens wider. With a loud array of welcomes, he ushers his parents in when he realizes that Latte does in fact still stalk around the room. It’s like a mini traffic jam while they all take off their shoes, but it lets him scope out the apartment before walking in a bit further.

And - Christ.

Yuchan’s head looks like a damn makeup brush. A cute makeup brush, but his point still stands. His hair is shocked white on the top with the ends being a dark black. It..doesn’t look awful, and he thinks that is flustering him the most out of everything. It shouldn’t look good. But it does.

He sends a mouthed ‘why’ over to the youngest, who just beams a shit eating grin in response. He notices Junhee lingering off in the back with Sehyoon, glancing over at him and his parents momentarily before returning to fiddling with a stack of playing cards that Sehyoon has seemingly brought over. 

Welp. Introduction time.

First he goes to drop the food off onto the counter in the kitchen, returning to his parents. They’re currently talking with Byeongkwan, who has taken the chairs to lean them against the couch arm for the time being. Donghun motions Yuchan over, wrapping his arm around his shoulders as he waits for the conversation to end. 

Eventually Byeongkwan wanders off to scoop up Latte, who has seemingly phased into existence. He clears his throat politely, waiting for his parents attention. They look over at him, clicking their tongues in a creepy sort of unison. It’s like they’re a hive mind. 

“This is Yuchan.” He says simply, glancing over as the younger smiles and offers a small wave. There’s no way for this to _not_ be awkward, so Yuchan’s doing great. “He’s a freshman.”

“I see!” His mom replies. “Pleasure to meet you, Yuchan.”

“Your hair is rather interesting.” His dad comments. 

Yuchan just grins even brighter.

“I wanted to spice it up during the break, I got bored of brown you know?”

That seems to be enough for the ice to get broken, his parents descending into a small fit of laughter. It’s not too awkward anymore - not cringe worthy at least. But he still has someone else to introduce. After making sure that everything will stay okay between the three, he slinks away to politely grab Junhee and pull him away from Byeongkwan and Sehyoon. Junhee, for the most part, seems less anxious than he did last night. He leads him over to his parents and Yuchan, hands on his shoulders and keeping him in front of him. Just in case he tried to bolt. 

His dad seems to notice first, judging by how he finishes his thought with Yuchan before directing his attention over to him and Junhee.

“And you must be Donghun’s roommate.” His dad says, holding out his hand. Donghun just smiles hopefully behind Junhee’s back, nudging him forward just a bit more. “Junhee, was it?”

“I -” Junhee pauses, seeming a bit flustered before going to shake his hand. “Yes. I’m Junhee.”

Well. It could’ve gone worse. Junhee seems to redeem himself with his mom, shaking her hand without hesitation and greeting her pleasantly. Good job, buddy. Good job.

Yuchan sticks around as some form of emotional support. Which he’s genuinely thankful for because he’d be worried that Junhee would run off and hide for fifteen minutes. 

Donghun leaves it in Yuchan’s hands to keep the conversation rolling as he heads back into the kitchen to unpack all the food. Which seems like so much more when it’s finally out of the bags and onto the counter. Seriously, they could probably feed double the people with this. He lets him snoop around for a fair few minutes before he startles at Junhee suddenly appearing next to him.

“Escaped my parents?”

“No, no. Sehyoon went over and they’ve been talking with him and Byeongkwan.” He says. “Yuchan is busy snuggling Latte. So I’m - here.”

“That sounds like escaping.”

“Still.”

A small stretch of silence. Junhee’s very close. Very, very close. 

“My parents aren’t too bad, are they?” He asks after a while, moving to open the fridge to put some of the tupperware in it. He’s not exactly sure when his parents are going to be cooking and he doesn’t want to risk anything just sitting out and going bad.

“They’re not, I was just a chicken.”

Donghun laughs at that, nudging him.

“You’re fine. I think you handled it well, didn’t embarrass yourself. Didn’t trip and land on your face or anything like you feared!”

“I suppose.”

He opens his mouth to reply, but his mom walks in before he gets another word out. She claps her hand to draw their attention, smiling brightly.

“Alright you two gossips.” She chuckles. “Head on out and we’ll start cooking.”

“Aw, mom. You guys can rest before cooking if you -“

“Nope! We’re here to cook and you guys need some warm meals. Especially since it seems a bit chilly in here.”

“Ah, yeah the heater gave up last night.” He comments, casting a glance at Junhee. “But we’ll leave our kitchen in your hands. I put some of the stuff in the fridge -“

“Alright.” She waves him off before he can finish, smile bright as she ushers them out to the living room. His dad passes by them, leaving him with all his friends.

Yuchan seems to have permanently claimed Latte for the evening. Byeongkwan motions for them to join him and Sehyoon on the couch.

He doesn’t need verbal confirmation that the two have talked based purely because of how Byeongkwan is currently in his lap. Junhee doesn’t seem to question it, so he probably figured it out early on. Yuchan..he’s never sure with Yuchan.

Donghun forces Junhee to sit down while he sets up the folding chairs to give more seating room. Then he’s joining them on the couch, swinging his legs onto Junhee’s lap without a second thought. 

They all chatter for a bit, their voices much quieter than if his parents weren’t around. It’s the parental effect. He apologizes for the fact that it’s a little chillier than usual in here, but he knows it’ll warm up a bit as the cooking continues. 

Mostly he just gets verbal confirmation that Sehyoon and Byeongkwan are officially a thing, in which Yuchan lets out a round of applause that sends Latte darting away from him. He looks more regretful than happy and it’s all because he scared the cat away.

The evening turns to night relatively quick. By seven thirty they’re eating sausage tortellini with spinach while his dad is busy frying his caramel tarts. It smells good.

His parents didn’t really plan a cohesive meal. There’s some fried rice, the tortellini, salad, the tarts and.. fried pork.

The amount of leftovers is going to be spectacular. Everyone seems happy with how the night is going, judging by the lack of awkward air and the laughter. Junhee seems to be enjoying himself, which is a huge relief. As the night goes on, their seating arragnement changes whenever someone gets up or returns with a new plate of food.

Donghun is seated by Yuchan at some point - mainly because he hasn’t really been able to hang out with him lately. He’s got to admit that he’s missed the younger guy. 

“So how have you been?” He asks him as the others have busied themselves with getting more food or conversing amongst themselves. “Have you done anything cool?”

The younger thinks for a moment, fork spinning in his hand idly as he thinks. 

“Nah. Nothing really cool.” Yuchan finally says. “I really got into this online game and have been playing that a lot. Other than that I’ve just been learning guitar or focusing on my classes.”

“You should tell me about the game, maybe I’ll join you.”

“It’s an rpg.”

“Those are fun.”

Yuchan smiles brightly at the comment before delving into a whole ten minute discussion about the game. It _does_ sound fun. The overall story is reminiscent of a lot of rpgs he’s played in the past, but there a few details Yuchan refuses to talk about because of the sheer fact that they’re considered story spoilers. Donghun just listens and nods along as he shoves another piece of tortellini into his mouth. He responds when he can or when he thinks he has something relevant purely because he loves how enthusiastic Yuchan seems to be about this whole topic. 

By the time his dad brings out the dessert, Yuchan has rotated over to Sehyoon and he has drifted over to where Byeongkwan has settled in the corner of the living room. Latte is in his lap, purring up a storm. One hand is on the cat and the other is holding a tart. He seems at peace with life. 

Donghun is just content with munching down on his own piece. Byeongkwan keeps glancing at him, though. It stresses him out, just a bit. After a few seconds of thinking he decides to ignore him for a bit. Instead he makes partial small talk with him about the developments between him and Sehyoon. It's certainly enough to make him more focused on that than staring at Donghun for an extended period of time. But even then the conversation dies down after a steady stream of Byeongkwan gushing about the older as if he wasn't in the same proximity as they were.

Which leads down the eventual path of him getting stared at again.

"What?" He asks. "Did I do something weird?"

Byeongkwan blinks a few times. Then there's a familiar grin and twinkle in his eye as he motions for Donghun to lean it. It's not like he has much of a choice, so he complies.

“Junhee is totally into you.”

“Pardon?”

“He. Well. He didn’t explicitly say it. I don’t think he’s really considered being in a relationship before. But the way he talks and - well. He’s very giggly about you.” Byeongkwan grins, nodding over to where Junhee and Yuchan are talking on the couch. 

“Him being giggly doesn’t equate to him being into me.” Donghun bites back quietly.

“He talked about you two sharing a bed today. And he blushed the whole time.”

“That still proves nothing -“

“He said some other things when it was just me and him but - I’m not going to tell you. He was really shy about the whole thing and asked me not to talk about it. Just know that -“ A pause when Junhee gets up. But he’s walking back into the kitchen to grab another plate. “- he’s too nervous about making the first move.”

Donghun doesn't really know how to process this. He opens his mouth and closes it again, makes a befuddled noise as he gestures towards the kitchen.

"He's into me?" He whispers back, voice low as Byeongkwan nods seriously.

"Totally. He totally is."


End file.
